I have been looking at it, but have not pulled the trigger on the course.

STR income will always be dependent on who I managing the property, how nice the finishes and furnishings are, and the actual location of a property within the given city.With my STR in Destin, numbers are more or less the same as last year, perhaps down just a hair. 

One of the reasons I asked the question is that it seems strange to me that a property management wouldn’t take anything upfront if they inherited a house that wasn’t ready for rent .Our property management also does the cleaning ( deep clean over 4 days was $1000 but they had to deal with some nasty pet hair , fleas etc)and that included some cover up paint etc .One lesson learned here is every contract with owner : property management varied greatly it seems from what is needed .But moving forward - I feel that $500 a month on a $2100 a month property is too high once it’s rented - unless endless problems persist of course ..thanks for your insight!

Because again, we both know that it's nonsense to think it'd be worth that much money.Wow, this really triggers you!

But we just can’t pull the trigger on anything.

This could trigger the FHA 100 mile rule however with a few exemptions.Indeed, FHA allows you to put 3.5% down payment to invest in 1-4 units.

Quote from @Jon Taylor: @Pete Harper - Section 721 of the Internal Revenue Code allows an investor to exchange property held for investment or business purposes for shares in a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) without triggering a taxable event.

I checked out ab968, looks like pre / foreclosures might be a good way to go if I can find them. thanks everyone for the responses, really great info. im actually starting to see more deals on properties in need of renovation so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to find some good flips when I’m ready to pull the trigger  

And now presented with the risk scenario they go into attack mode.Yeah, back to start, it looks to me as Marco is pulling triggers that were always there, going to plan Y, Z etc...

This allows you to invest in real estate without triggering the 10% early withdrawal penalty or income taxes, and the gains can grow tax-deferred (or tax-free in a Roth IRA).