Conventional, down payment assistance.

If they are not okay with that, either find someone who is or hire a runner that can take care of emergencies.  

The rest economy of scale takes care of.

If the house takes longer to sell, we aren't losing money every month on interest payments and can hold for the right sell price.Cons:We lose our regular stable monthly income and have to rebuild again (we have done this before - this would be our 2nd "bootstrap, build, sell" business)We lose our 5 year history when it comes to conventional mortgages and moving into a new home for our own family in the next 2-4 yearsThoughts / recommendations?

I'm extremely careful about how we originate 2nds and it's not for novice lenders and it certainly is not something I would buy - even at a steep discount.

Be careful of financial items or “investor hours” and travel.Think this way: “If I did not do this (Insert Task) would be STR be negatively affected”?

@Pretty Khare As Ruben and John mentioned above, you can utilize a cost segregation study on your STR property to reduce taxable income (or create a taxable loss) to offset against your W2 income, but you need to ensure you are following the IRS guidelines very carefully.

If their credit sucks, they won't care, and you won't get that money.Share your rental advertisement and ask BP users to review it and give advice based on your market and your marketing.

You ask me for tips  on properties that aren't going to be on everyone's list.My friend, listen to me carefully. 

If you solve his problem, chances are he won't care that you solve yours at the same time.