Challenges?

If you spend it now, you lose your leverage for the rest of the lease, and you'll have nothing to handle unpaid rent, cleaning, or repairs after termination.You are starting down a dangerous path.

That said, if you can comfortably handle the additional down payment and monthly payment consequences of a higher purchase price (and the lenders agree), and you have a few different good options with the property then it could be a wise investment.By a few good options . . . you want to have some exit strategy other than STR that will work in case the something happens to make STR uncouth in your area. 

Understanding tenant rights, maintenance responsibilities, and potential challenges will prepare you for the realities of being a landlord.

I have been doing the property management and leasing myself, while sometimes trying to handle maintenance.   

A PM would have the simple defense of "no one wanted to book".Unfortunately, I am probably minimizing the challenges faced by the STR PM as I am not in that space.

Thanks guys - my partner does the Brokerage and we were discussing how to address the commission - we are fine paying just debating how to handle the upfront question when the Buyers agent calls about the listing ...My thoughts were to simply state that Seller is fine paying a commission and put it in the offer - and he wants to offer the % upfront ... 

I’ve handled direct mail both in-house and through outsourcing, and each has its pros and cons.

Refinancing could be a challenge if your score hasn’t improved by then.

I set up a meeting with a VRBO supervisor to challenge this.