If STR is fun, then do it.

Then start stacking fix n flips, then MTR and LTR.

Maybe lease a mid term rental and rent out your unit, then look to buy another place.

The most successful people that I have heard on podcasts and met in real estate know that it is all about getting a single here and there and then going to get a homerun while doing those singles.

If the homeowner is promised new financing, a straw borrower will then be involved.

Then you can read a more in-depth book like The Book On Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner or The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing by Spencer Strauss.2.

I first like to short list based on numbers and then deep dive.

I tell people to start by picking a strategy (OOS long term, OOS short term rental, fix and flip, etc) THEN pick a market and submarket THEN look for good tools/people, doing it any other order tends to be an exercise in futility. 

It (2%) technically would be coming from the seller by reducing the 5% to 3% and then you get a closing cost credit for 2% at COE.

Then sold it for 434k.