Tools like QuickBooks or even a simple spreadsheet can help you mentain compliance and prepare for audits.Reinvest WiselyScaling a short-term rental business often requires reinvestment in marketing, property upgrades, or even hiring help.

Facebook is the last place you want to find private money. whats unfortunate is real estate professionals are still advertising to us newbies Facebook is the place to find the lender.What’s even more unfortunate, @April Smalls, is that newbies are falling for it.A few years ago, someone created a fake website that impersonated our company.

And your central point I think, is to use conservative numbers so the deal still makes sense even in the worst case scenario.

When we miss, even a little, we don't mind being held accountable, fairly.  

We do encourage doing your own due diligence even though we are providing all this info.

Even wall st guys miss  these things  right . 

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

i agree that a new purchase at 75% equity will typically not have significant cash flow and may even be negative when properly allocating for all expenses.Investing to max equity without reserves is risky and you indicate would result in stress.  

Even if they're off market doesn't mean better pricing, they may not be on Crexi or LoopNet, but if they're for sale, they're being marketed. 

BiggerPockets also has a calculator to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.