Op ex ratio may end up being more like 45% or perhaps 40% with newer high quality construction.

These small towns are a niche market like investing in STR or trailer parks.

second some things like condemnation, & code violations are not recorded, and thirdly they are not liable. 

Additionally, FHA usually isn't the strongest type of financing and sellers don't like it as much because there's a lot more financing restrictions and the house needs to be pretty much turnkey.

My 14 year old now makes over $100/month passive income from her % owned and my 10 year old is at like $65/month.In this process we are building their interest in real estate, teaching them the value of putting their money to work for them, and all the while growing our investment if we need it for their college money some day! 

Using a Whole Life Insurance (WLI) loan avoids banks but accrues interest, potentially reducing policy benefits—compare this with other financing options like HELOC or seller financing.

They were not in a position to budge as much as I had liked.

It sounds like you’ve accomplished a lot in three years—congrats!

I feel like I’ve walked the street without ever having been in the state.

We ran numbers across several probabilities and it seemed like a safer bet when we purchased.