Am I missing some sort of major piece of the puzzle or something?

@Stanci March there r missing pieces to the puzzle...the biggest one is the expenses?  

I use 50% LTV max.You can search in these forums for my PETIO format in order to better organize your efforts.The skip tracing part is a big skill in its win right and an essential part of solving the puzzle in chasing equity.

The part that is puzzling for me is St Pete charges the Tourist Tax on Airbnb's but don't allow them?

In a deflationary environment you save now and spend later because things are getting cheaper.This whole inflation/deflation debate is puzzling.

Like I said, I am a complete newcomer and am personally interested in purchasing rental property, but I'm just wondering how this piece fits into the overall puzzle. 

I was somewhat vague on this post in a first attempt at putting this idea to paper and getting others to track the thought process so I apologize there are still some missing pieces to the puzzle here.

I really get puzzled by this.  

To me retirement accounts are just another piece to the puzzle.  

It feels a bit like finding puzzle pieces that fit together and then not being able to fit together any of the "chunks" of puzzle I have figured out thus far.