When you say you want to prioritize cash flow over equity, you want to watch out for people honing in on that and selling you "good cash flow" deals which will be in D neighborhoods and will come with high capital expenditures and harder tenancies.

I tend to shy away from homes over ~20 years old to buy and hold for long term renting.

That also made me hesitant about Cashiers, meaning I worried that the mindset would spill over.

We have funded over 4000 loans nationwide.

its cheap  compared to what you get I found a strict foreclosure in Oregon that their site was on the only one tracking it and we made over 300k on that one deal. 

It took us well over a year to find the property we're buying.

FHA Loan – 3.5% Down (Owner-Occupied)Buy a duplex, triplex, or fourplex, live in one unit, and rent out the others.You only need 3.5% down with a 580+ credit score.STRs are typically not allowed initially, but you can transition over time.3.

Take a look at this podcast from BP - it goes over Beginner friendly ways to start investing and you will take alot from it. 

If you paid over $375k MAYBE you could keep it because the taxes saved are so low.

I had a distinct advantage over my competition who had to do their own courthouse searchs.