This will help out tremendously when I start shopping for an agent.

When I started our STR I had the old oil furnace removed and replaced with a heat pump.

My advice would be to start small with your first deals to gain experience before scaling up.

Ideally, I would like to use the buy and hold strategy, with a 50k budget to get started.  

Paul has started at least 3 separate threads in the past few days announcing to the world the success he's having with section 8 rentals and repeatedly reminds us he doesn't have a clue how to calculate the true operational costs associated with these properties. 

Now, my journey starts.

I'm currently into a nightmare of a flip and haven't even started the work.

i'd start there.

There was positive population growth, medium home price growth, low unemployment, good rent to home ratios, and low crime, all of which are factors when I start looking into an area to invest in.  

I would love to chat with someone who is a mortgage broker to understand your day to day workflows a little better.