You purchased these properties all cash...which means you won't have mortgage interest as a deduction.Short-term rentals are great because they bring a lot of cash-flow compared to their long-term counterparts.

Do they offer a unique aesthetic compared to their counterparts which allows them to compete against other properties?

No wonder American cities remain far less livable than our European counterparts...Regarding the economics, a 9 year ROI is tremendous in a market with a 3% cap rate.

All I am saying is, let's compare our low down payment, bad credit loans with a possible European counterpart.

Turns out the US sales guys made about three time the business volume than their European counter parts.

To reduce all this down to a meaningful and comparable discussion we need to look at cumulative effective tax rates.Using the data from smart asset it looks like the border counties in NC have an effective tax rate of:Gaston - 1.05%Mecklenburg - 1.13%Union - .82%Compared to SC (PR/OO rates)York - .632Lancaster - .508Chester .662Now these rates are for the lower 4% Primary residence rate which has to be adjusted up 50% to account for the 4%-6% difference mentioned above so the effective tax rate for investors is:York - .948Lancaster - .762Chester .695All still lower than heir closest NC counterpart. 

The properties sell for a lot less and are harder to sell than their owned land counterparts.

I work for AIC (AAP's Union counterpart on the slope).

I couldn't read this and not say something - I'm a realtor in Philadelphia, and the conversation I had today with some of my counterparts were some of the horrible business names we've seen lately. 

My investing group has a counterpart in McKinney, north of D/FW, but Google Maps says that's 325 miles from you.