Also, for flips, I like to reserve an additional 15-20% in contingency for unforeseen conditions or changes. 

You can pick up a duplex in decent condition in a C-class neighborhood and hit the 1% rule

Managing property can either be a lot of work or fairly hands-off—it largely depends on the property’s condition and how well you screen potential tenants.As for deciding between the two property types, it really comes down to your long-term goals.

Market conditions being one of them.

I asked the GC as part of the conditional last $20k payment to transfer the title to me after his mortgage note default since I'd paid him $40k in good faith for work reportedly completed but needed rework.3.)

I'm a pretty big advocate for the south side of chicago where you can find properties half that value and cashflow really really well in turnkey condition. 

@Jake Baker Love the approach of measuring the total offers that you send, if you know your strategy most of the time it is a numbers game no matter the condition of the market. 

Full disclosure, I'm not a disaster expert, politician or climate alarmist, but according to those fighting fires on the California coast since the 1960's, Devil Winds are natural occurrences each and every decade but require highly conducive conditions to be as destructive. 

There were some changes to the verbiage allowing STRs under certain conditions in the Open Use zoning district which was a big point of contention in previous hearings. 

I would look at the value of the rentals before you make a decision to see if that makes sense for you.Regarding the furnishings, if you have to pay more for them (again here in FL, properties are generally listed fully furnished and you don't really get a discount to tell people to take the crap out - in fact, I had one guy refuse a good offer because one of my conditions was for them to take their crap!