The best advice is don't buy in any area that prohibits STRs or makes operating them so onerous that you're unlikely to make any profit.

How many people pay for a gym membership that they never use.

Lowering it by $100 could gain more interest & lease it out sooner.

The sooner you get started, the sooner you're going to get wherever it is you want to be. 

My strategy has been to grow aggressively (by using as little of my own money as possible) to secure good assets, and once stabilized, then work to pay down loans to own them free and clear sooner rather than later. 

You can refinance sooner than that but you'll need to paper trail all of the improvement costs that lead to the increase in value.

I like the idea of doing this with mobile homes, because I can buy them outright, so I would own it sooner than mortgaging a house.Thanks for reading and I look forward to any replies.

The loans were varied and some were able to close sooner than others and they wanted to close before the others but we held out because we needed to close all of them at the same time to avoid any last minute standoffs or complications.

Having intentionality in your actions and goals set to enable you to reach that 1 real estate transaction milestone is important and will ultimately help you reach that sooner. 

Thank you Joao, I just noticed your post - I wish I had seen it sooner.