Consider me a friend in the charlotte market and let's grab coffee (there are many cute coffee shops here and I can tell you where to find the good texmex)

This will be my first time purchasing an STR, and I have no prior experience.

There's a lot of other things to consider here but I'll go through your list and make some suggestions based on 10 years of investing across various asset classes - single family, multifamily, industrial, storage, retail, office, etc. and I've had experience with section 8 housing, BRRRR, flips, etc.Purchasing rental properties?

They are going to finance you based on your loan to value, experience, and liquidity. 

I’m so sorry to hear about the support experience you’ve had, I would love the oppertunity to personally help you have a fantastic experience with RentRedi.

@Robert Gorra - I've had a similar experience where I've had a really hard time with getting GC's to even give me an estimate, and the few that have have been way overpriced (ie, they want me to put in $20k of cabinets in a budget flip) or have had their prices go up by about 40% and still not give me a firm price when I try to nail down the scope of work.

I manage around 400 rentals with 14 years of experience and have never been sued once.

It’s exciting to see how doors open when you have someone who knows how to navigate the space.I just wanted to share this because it’s been such an eye-opening experience for me.

While each person has their own perceptions of a rough part of town, in my experiences, I do avoid them.  

Personal loans through the credit card companies can be approved and fund very quickly and my best rate is 7.9% so shop around as some are much higher.