If Eli operates his business correctly he will personally be fine and given the collateral is an FHA property the transactional costs simply don't justify the added transactional expenses if a risk analysis were run.

Ultimately a 1031 would have been the smartest move to buy another property and simply do a cash out refinance in 6 months to have access to some of the funds.

It still amazed me how few real estate brokers, residential and commercial, simply do not answer their phones or reply to emails/text messages in a timely manner, if at all.

I would think a lender views the STR as a higher risk simply because a long-term tenant has a defined lease in place, that is usually 6 months or more in duration.

After closing, we discovered that for about 5-6 of the properties, tenants had been granted "sweetheart leases", well below market rates, extending through 2027 and beyond.

Cashflow is simply what is left over after an asset generates revenue and pays all of its expenses.

So It looks like it was simply lower level employees with lack of knowlege. 

I visited the area and discovered it would be stable, affordable, and profitable.

You simply had to eat the costs.

They simply unloaded a bunch of their junk certificates on us.