It’s a great reminder to trust your own due diligence and not let others make critical decisions for you, like hiring a property manager.For future investments, building a trusted team and maintaining direct oversight is key, even with remote deals.

I’m a 41-year-old father of six who loves the Lord and is driven by a desire to build a better future for my family through real estate.I own a small tile installation business, am a certified insurance agent, and am currently in the process of obtaining my real estate license.

After some additional research we have decided to focus on the aforementioned markets, but I will keep you in mind if we decide to look at Columbus more closely in the future. 

So, my first caution is it would be healthy not to expect similar results on certain real property investments/deals in the current and near future cycles.That said, there are multiple considerations and clarity needed, before I would act on any investments with your equity.

In the future, we aim to get into fixer-uppers, development, etc., but for now, we like to only consider semi-stabilized (with minimal deferred maintenance) or fully stabilized, cash-flowing properties. 

To beat 5.25% mortgage rate....the corresponding, offsetting stock market return would be at least double that...To answer your question requires (1) knowing what risk adjusted return you will be able to earn in the future (2) knowing what interest rates will do in the future.  

Past performance is no indication of future results.

-Creates a solid foundation for passive income, allowing you to reinvest future cash flow into other opportunities without as much financial risk.Cons:-Ties up a large amount of capital that could potentially be used to generate higher returns elsewhere (like another STR or other investments).

Quote from @Yianni Hahalis: Hi all,I will soon be moving to Cleveland, OH and either renting or buying in the surrounding area with my future spouse.

A project like that will probably take 6 months to 1 year, so what's your expectation for future rents?