However, after he saw the quantity of ADU applications come across his desk to plan check he went out and started his own consulting company.

How about a sales contract with contingencies but with a limit where the buyer can only terminate the contract if their find material defects exceeding a certain dollar amount.

@Hunter Duplantis what @Gino Barbaro said is exactly what I was going to suggest.When you have vacancy is the time to experiment and apply your original thesis.I’m not trying to play Monday quarterback here but, you should be highly confident in where the rents should be well in advance of having a vacancy.That being said, after confirming competition rents on websites (I’d also recommend Craigslist and Facebook marketplace), you should be in alignment there.  

They needed to sell after just 6 months of owning.

What is killing me is after factoring in property taxes of about $9000 for the year and 10% of the rents $6.720 for property management as well as insurance factored at another $2400.

The Raleigh market may have increased by 40% after the Apple announcement, but it wasn't because of Apple, at least not solely.

Would a low enough sales price make all of my concerns go away?

Purchase price: $2,000 Cash invested: $60,000 Sale price: $91,000 Bought this one from WCLB with the intention to fix it and sell on market to homeowner.

Where I am in New Jersey, the numbers wouldn't work out at all, but those numbers are good on your sale and rent for the build cost, especially since they should appreciate there in Little Rock steadily.

Not every STR has to be a 4 Seasons and even those I've waited on service before and it's not like someone was breathing down their neck waiting to revoke their hotel license when it happened.