You could either de-convert the basement before purchase, buy with plans for de-conversion, or leave it as non-living space.

Her contract says nothing about set up fees or early termination; I gave a generous offer to keep $400 as a design fee, but she sent me (2) $30 deadbolts and said the Technology Fee was non-refundable.There's other, better STR management companies out there.

A buddy of mine, who’s been an agent in the Phoenix market for nearly as long as I have, once had a client who stumbled into a 1031 that shot their returns through the roof because they snagged a property near one of those new tech corridors sprouting up.. from what I’ve heard, that corridor’s been buzzing with interest lately.What’s exciting right now is seeing how investors are leveraging 1031 exchanges to pivot into markets that are on fire.

LLCs require additional filing fees and tax returns and just complicate things.

., mitigating tax liability for passive and non-passive income).

While $300K may not yield high returns in your market AND presumably limit you to smaller deals with less doors/units, the same amount could align you with a group of investors purchasing dozens of units elsewhere.

I've seen you post a few times about 70% max leverage but 75% is widely available, at lease with non-conventional 30Y DSCR loans.  

Can you have a deal with high rates of return?

I tried in my market which is the 2nd biggest to New York, so pricing for ads was really high and the return was not great.

I'd recommend the spread on the return and your ability to replace damaged items (local vs. not local, strength of your team) be the determining factors in that decision.