Buy conservatively and don't speculate.

Anyway, I've set aside one year of expense for that rental property to be conservative, but debating whether to take mortgage forbearance or deferral in a few months if it seems that there is no end in sight for the moratorium.

Second offer which is $12K lower than list price, no rate buy down, and seller won't pay the buyer agent commission.Morgage payment with a conservative LTR payment is break even,  Coc is 6.3% , and I'm super bummed that my agent won't get paid.We could put in cash to pay him, but it would come out of the renov + Furnishings cast slotted for the property.Any creative financing thinking from this group on:How to pay my agent AND not dip into our cash funds for prepping the property?

Ensure the STR’s projected income comfortably covers new debt, even with conservative occupancy rates, and maintain reserves for market changes or vacancies.

For my first one here, I tried to be a bit more conservative. 

The more conservative way to build wealth through real estate is buy and hold.

Being out of state they’ll need strong balance sheets and probably be more conservative on underwriting.

Based on what you've said, you should be able to make 2x rental income and account for 20% vacancy to be conservative. 

Since Camby / the Tri-County Conservancy District won't allow the utility service the tenant receives to be in the tenants name, and since it is a flat fee, I'd ask if the tenant if they'd like to add it to the rent or if they'd like me to send them a copy and they pay me separately.

Let’s be conservative and say that it would only sell for $300k : you spent $100k on it anyway… and now your over all mortgage would go from $700k to minus $300k or $400k.