I'd rule out the STR in Van due to 1) price/cashflow 2) unfavorable policies 3) Like you said, its big capital locked up for a small property with limited usage 4) STR is either a TON of upkeep(cleaning, marketing, etc) or a TON of expense related to prop mgmt in an already tight cashflow scenario.  

Much better to get 100-200 less a month than be vacant and get nothing while you also have utilities, yard upkeep, etc to pay in addition to everything else.

They’re not restricted by any specific bank’s new appetite for deals or products they offer, and can utilize their hundreds of lending relationships to find the lender who will do the deal.In every market, but especially in this one, a good commercial mortgage broker is worth their weight in gold.

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The kitchen would be getting only a slight upgrade, it was pretty new when I bought the house, but the laminate counter was a cheap one and is showing wear and tear only 3 years later, so to me it's not an upgrade on the kitchen so much as upkeep.

You can get into stuff for super cheap now with MFHA down payment assistance.A good realtor and good lender are worth their weight in gold.

I felt the HOA was another set of eyes to watch and upkeep the property.  

After that continue building your team but a good PM is worth their weight in gold.

My normal weight was about 180. 

As we were arguing about whose fault it is, they filed a complain with the village, inspector basically said I don't care who pays for it or whether it comes out of the deposit but as a landlord you have to upkeep the property, so we had to fork the cash to get it fixed at that time.