What's the criteria for selecting? 

Not many syndicators are willing to take a personal loss if the deal goes south.3) Deal Selection and Underwriting.

While you are not required to have a property manager for your long-term rental (short term is a different story), you can only handle administrative functions such as making phone calls, paying bills, selecting a contractor, etc. and must be completely hands off. 

I'm under contract on a property right off MLS right now that will cash flow $500 per month on day one with 20% down at 7.785%.The Boise metro market has definitely not plateaued- heck. the median price in Meridian was up 17% YoY in February. https://www.redfin.com/city/13444/ID/Meridian/housing-market  I'm impressed.

These include market analysis, property selection, guest communication, listing creation and optimization, and more.

I am not sure where to begin. with your septic and well you'll need to do site layout first with a land planner or the county. after that you'll need to check setback requirements and design plans and start budgeting with a builder. once you have a confirmed plan set and budget broken down and builder selected then you can talk to banks. most people think it starts with banks 

One of the main challenge that I observed is that individuals often lack a clear end goal or strategy, or they select a market that doesn't align it.

Here are the projections for 2024 to give an idea of expected returns:2024 IncomeLong-term Income$8,400Gross STR Income$45,500 (based on AirDNA projections)Additional STR Income$5,915 (mostly cleaning fees)Total Projected Income$59,8152024 ExpensesSTR Expenses$16,453 (32% ratio)Mortgage$34,476Insurance$707CapEx$3,600Taxes$2,729Total Expenses$57,965Projected Cash Flow$1,850CoC Return2.79%2024 Additional ReturnsPrincipal Paydown$2,930Equity Appreciation$16,200Mortgage Interest Deduction$7,571Total$26,701Total Projected Returns$28,551Projected Return on Investment43.1%Projected Return on Equity21.4%The CoC numbers are not impressive, and the property only cash flows as an STR, which carries some risk.

Select a specific area of real estate that matches your goals, preferences, and willingness to take on risk.

I'm just about to graduate college and there is a lot of activities and community around people my age in the city as well.Houston didn't impress me too much.