I've seen a lot of conflicting advice that cautions to avoid areas with high crime rates due to complications and extra costs from the tenant base and property crime.I understand that both cities have shown crime rate improvements, but their overall rates are still way above average.What makes these cities attractive for investment despite this?

So my challenges will be either to find a lender willing to accept debt for the down payment or raising the entire capital stack but I'm not sure I would have enough 'friends' to raise that much and the more members in the LLC, the more it acts like a security.When I stated 'avoiding the bank requirements,' I was referring to the process of going through committee approval, extra documentation, negotiating any covenants, etc. 

For example, if you are doing a rental arbitrage model and paying 1000 in rent 300 in utilities I would at least double this to make a profit cover depreciation of the furnishings and leave some extra breathing room just in case.

If you can pull out an extra $20K a year I would go that route with the STR and you can use other VRBO's/AIRBNB receivables to find out local annual ROI/NOI.

However, you will have some difficulty there since it's not in your name.

What are some of the difficulties that you consistently run into?

Most people lack the money for a down payment, and their personality tells them if they do have some extra money spend it on a good time, beer, a vacation, new skis, a gift for junior, etc...

For me, I always have goals when I sit down each year and the fact is that it really takes me an extra 2-3x to get the those goals than I really thought.

I guess, all the trust issues and emotional instability could be settled with extra deal protection. 

The reality is the opposite - if it's not in writing then the PMC doesn't have to provide the service or can charge extra for it!