Stop hanging out with your deadbeat buddies who spend all day drinking, talking sports, and otherwise wasting away.

I'd look for a good brand and spend some time looking at reviews from a big box store. 

I mean there is so much to scrutinize here we could spend an entire afternoon reviewing the actual deal let alone the financing.I wish you luck either way man.  

As a starting point: -If they work full time and make $700k a year -Don't want to or can't spend time self managing a short-term rental -Don't have a spouse who wants to take the lead on managing the rentals They are likely not going to directly reduce their taxable income with real estate year-to-year. 

The entire focus is on new people because they spend on more.4.

Spend time where sellers and brokers gather.

Monitor your spending habits to make sure you’re consistently putting money aside for both the short-term and long-term costs of real estate. 

If your time is worth $500 an hour I would spend the 5k on 10 hours of searching for a free mentor.

There are a lot of inconsistent contractors, so really spend some time vetting them. 

There are so many different wildlife creatures to see, that if you are an animal lover, you could spend months seeing new animals every day.