If you want to know what happens with short-term rentals during a recession, talk to people that have been through a recession, not people that have only invested in an ideal market.

Ideally, if the numbers are close and you're considering quitting your job is there also a way for you to freelance or do something else for extra income part-time?

I charge 10% of the monthly rent, and if I have to go to the property in person for a routine inspection or to oversee a large job or high ticket estimate, Its $25/hr + $0.50/mile driven.Hiring a professional manager is ideal if you dont have the patience, mental space, or availability to receieve random spur of the moment repair and emergency requests.

This would not be an ideal situation for any tenant and I feel I need to put the idea of house hack aside unless I can find a unique property that has multiple standalone units, one large enough for my Brady Bunch and potentially several other units to offset the note.

Ideally I'd like to get 3-4 properties per year.

At $1 per mailing or I believe also a $1 for skip tracing to get a potential number to call plus your monthly fee, you can easily see how this becomes an issue in the ROI department (with no monthly fee and just above fees, would make it ideal).

Reflecting back to that time in my life, a refinance would have been the ideal thing to do.  

A home inspection is mandatory, if you are below $10K in repairs/improvements that would be ideal.

It's not the ideal situation but everyone takes a different path to start the journey.

My Experience with Upside Investments:As someone who prioritizes my time but recognizes the potential for wealth creation in real estate, the idea of traditional, hands-on investment wasn't ideal.