Drive around, get a sense of the area.

We often host families from the midwest and upper midwest and that's a long drive to not be sure of exactly what you've rented. 

Too many people run them like they drive their cars: stomping on the gas, slamming on the brakes, then complaining about poor MPG.

She is in a big beautiful house on Parkside Drive with a wing that can basically be separated off by a locked door, but her wing doesn't have a kitchen.

I regret driving past so many of these developments over the years and not having paid closer attention. 

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $3,975,000

Cash invested: $1,025,000

FIXER UPPER-Chateau Montclair sits on almost 6 acres & overlooks a 10 acre...

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

Purchase price: $3,975,000

Cash invested: $1,025,000

FIXER UPPER-Chateau Montclair sits on almost 6 acres & overlooks a 10 acre...

It's easy to see when you drive around, but you can also just filter for homes under 150k on any real estate website and you get an outline of those areas.

That drive is quite a drag, especially when I travel 15-20 hours to Europe and land at midnight and have to drive another 2 hours back home in Sedona.I'm thinking of buying a small condo in a decent area not too far from the airport, that I can also STR while I don't need to use it (which would be 95% of the time) and offset the mortgage with... maybe even cash-flow a bit?

This will drive how much you can borrow.Consider More Modest Options FirstWith $200k in investments to deploy, look at starting with 1-2 short-term rental properties first to gain experience before scaling up.Explore markets closer to your mom's current location that may have lower costs but still tourism appeal.This allows you to validate the model and your ability to operate short-term rentals successfully before risking more capital.The short-term rental concept could potentially work, but I would recommend starting with a smaller, very well-researched first step to validate the model before going all-in on a larger endeavor.