Hi @Nicholas L. and @Chris Seveney a few weeks after my post, they did a part 2 for the survey and 2 days ago, the Zoning Dept. emailed out an update for the proposed policies.Here's their message:"We want to keep you informed and share a preview of the proposed Short-Term Residential Rental Ordinance regulations and express our gratitude for your invaluable feedback and participation in Phase I and Phase II of the Alexandria Short-Term Residential Rental Study.

Your best route might be to buy a 2 to 4 unit property that you can live in and rent out the additional apartments.

Also, which choice is better for you highly depends on what your real estate goals are and the experience level & skillset of the specific agent.Traditional agent and Redfin Agent could essentially be the same thing in many cases.

Communication is highly important to me as well. 

I'd highly recommend house hacking in your local market since you're in one of the highest cost of living areas in the US, especially if you're renting currently and planning on staying in the area for 5-10 years.It sounds sexy to go out and invest out of state for your first property.

Taxes are very high and everything is super slow and bureaucratic.

Remodeling is a part of who I am. 

So, we have to "hope" they have a very high integrity level.

Just wondering how many folks would really use this that are like I said not really educated on how title and escrow works and I find East coast folks to be highly reliant on closing attornies and have very little knowledge of title and escrow functions..

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.