I have an STR in Niagara Falls and it does pretty well based on the purchase price. 

Also, for the new move, if you don't know the city very well, I generally bias towards renting, at least for a few months.

Some hosts also accept bank transfers, but you’ll want to ensure payments clear well in advance of their stay.

This will be costly in today's market and interest rates, but might be worth a shot if they can afford to stay.If they don't want to stay and you want the the townhome to rent to someone else and just want to assume the loan, well then she can call the lender and see if the loan is assumable. 

We have had duplexes with shared water, sewer, and trash billing, as well as shared driveways.The long term tenants act more like owner occupants, planting flowers, etc. and in some cases neighbors think that they are the owners. 

But since i rarely held more than a year all the others got paid off quickly so I did not have to do all the hidden tricks to try to fool the bank or well not fool the bank or servicer but make it harder for them to figure out I was now the owner. 

I would say that the value he brings is finding the deals, doing an initial diligence, having a local team set up for renovations/repairs/property management as well as knowledge of the neighborhood.

Maybe but for now I think the lessons we are learning and what we want to focus on have taught us well. 

There's a mix of younger professionals drawn to the tech and education sectors, as well as retirees attracted to the area's mild climate and cultural attractions.2.

Money now is very good because you are new and ready to do all the work, but the examples you'll hear about are people posting on BP saying, "well, I did all the work and they got a lot or most of the profit."