3. requiring heavy amount of rehab (siding, foundation, roof, HVAC, appliances)?

We had competition and they had bucks.

Yet, the current market conditions in Australia (especially Perth) are proving to be incredibly competitive.

Multiple, billion dollar companies are investing heavy in our area, such as Intel, Google, and Amazon.

NY is a competitive high-priced market so it makes sense that you're open to areas with lower barriers of entry.

as U get experience to be competitive you need to be able to run the numbers in your head or on a napkin forget about calculators.. :)175 pprehab  30kcontingency 5k at least 6 month hold  depends on how much your putting down but lets figure 10k there.buyers in this price point almost always need seller assist on financing so 5k there.and then 7% sales commish250K X .93 =  232k  - 50k  has you at net loss of 18k.. 

How will you differentiate yourself from the competition when you have little/no experience?

This is a needle in a haystack and generally comes with competition and valuation premium, as well as lost opportunity and memory making costs.. 

As competition in this space cools down, the remaining players who stick it out and new players who enter the asset class will have the greatest chance of being the next class of top performers.

Licensable vacation rentals are obviously in high demand and offers can become quite competitive, I don't have any formal statistics but I'd say a quality active or eligible vacation rental sells at least twice as fast as a non STR property, the majority within days..My best advice to investors shopping for a hot or high demand asset class is:- Prepare & Practice: Get your ducks (GO UO!)