Stick to budget and focus on tenant-friendly, durable finishes.

I had to learn to navigate public transportation which was non existent where I grew up.

We have a realtor friend that is a huge fan of Dolomite.

I went to Mississippi State and have a ton of friends from Madison, MS, and the surrounding areas of Jackson.

Rent it cheaper for 4-6 months to get through the winter, then rent it for a higher price or sell it in the spring.I recommend selling because you don't have a good property manager and the market is obviously not strong there.Thanks @Nathan GesnerI dropped the price from $2100 to $1975 but it’s not moving the needle too much.I am prepared to go lower , however , worried about what kind of tenants we’ll get at a very low rent like $1700 or $1600…4 years ago we rented for $1400 ( to friends) then we went up to $1500 for next tenant, then  $2400 for the last tenants ( we did some remodeling on property to justify that last rent ) Hard to go back down to those lower #’s but not getting qualified bites at all now that we are heading into winter ( as you pointed out )..been at $1975 for three days now ..

I would start backwards from your purchase price and financing to narrow it down, go with a landlord friendly state and try to leverage anyone you know (family member out of state, friend doing BRRRRs out of state, etc) - that should narrow done your market quite a bit.

I have heard from others, including @Karen Chenaille that Vermont is very STR friendly. 

I also suspect the seller's friend rented the other unit because the rent is cheap and the landlord is a pushover.I would look at this entire situation carefully.

I am helping a friend with a property his mother has some investment in.

Two of my close friends just purchased apartments in downtown Punta Cana (which are under construction) and we just built in another beach town called Samana.