The house was dated, not flashy, but in great condition.

The house was dated, not flashy, but in great condition.

If someone is buying just one rental as a second home to use as a short term rental, then I think they are more inclined to want to have a “flashy” property.

This is my first post in 3 years.The market is in a very different place in that time.There has been a pandemic,and interest rates have doubled.Social media posts from baby syndicators and operators have slowed,if not outright disappeared.No prizes for guessing why.If you are a newbie reading this,you should never forget this cardinal lesson:Real wealth in real estate is created with equity,not cash flow.And certainly not with transactions.That's why the maxim says "we make money when we buy,not when we sell".It's because you run into all sorts of factors that may be outside your control WHEN you sell,IF you have to sell.Equity builds over time.Slowly.Patience is a virtue.It's why long term buy and hold will remain the king of the real estate game.Not Flipping,not syndication,and certainly not vacation rentals.You must diligently prioritize buying and OWNING your own piece of dirt financed with LONG TERM debt,preferably conventional loan that is deliberately underleveraged in a niche unlikely to be legislated out of existence by sensible new city or county ordinances predictably aiming to protect the local economy.That's how you keep your assets in ANY cycle without having to close bad deals in order to make another buck for another day.Even if you like the passive side of investing in syndications,you must be smart enough to understand you never actually OWN those units.So when someone tells you they own 2000 or 3500 units,call BS.When prices and rents are surging with historic low interest rates,even a 12th grader can become a hotshot syndicator overnight with the right amounts of flashy social media posts with rented red Lambos,Richard Mille watches and private jets strategically inserted.When rates rise,as they have,and projections and proformas head for the toilet,we see many who have been swimming naked.The skinny bad deals closed in a blaze of hysteria and chutzpah circa 2017/2018 with 3% interest rates are coming up for refinancing or sale today.It's 2022.Many of them have 5 year balloons.That's the place the crash everyone has been debating to death is going to start.Exit strategy in real estate is more complicated than can be taught in a 3-day bootcamp.No matter how much you paid for the course.Keep it simple.Real estate is really very simple. 

You just won't get a bunch of stupid flashy buttons or idiotic 'features' that break the first year.

There are some things that I don't have such as a tenant portal or flashy owner graphs that I don't really need (if I needed them I'd build them in Excel).I realize this approach won't work for everybody but just throwing it out there for you.

So, I'm thinking nothing too fancy...A 3br, 2ba on each side, 1200 sq. ft. or so per side, with the finished just being standard stuff...High quality for less maintenance, but not necessarily flashy or fancy...More on the functional side than fashionable. 

Don't use flashy postcards like the cable company does.

I have received hundreds of business cards in my life and I don't remember the best designed/flashy card I have ever received.

Almost like I am having a mid life crisis at 30 but instead of wanting a flashy car or motorcycle, I want to be wealthy and enjoy my life not trade my time for money, I want to spend time with my kids.