Is there job growth, a lot of development?  

First thing I always ask people who ask me about doing STR is do you have a regular w2 and do you want to do another job?

How you get there honestly depends on your W2 job.

After looking more into bankers code, private  lending and doing a lot of research, I came to realize that it is a job and not passive in any way.Don't get me wrong, I would love to do private lending but regulations makes it very difficult and time consuming.

Does anyone know of a trustworthy handyman that is priced reasonably and does a good job?

Hi Ellen, typically, to claim mileage deductions on your taxes for travel to properties, you would need to either own the property or it would need to be your job, like if you were hired as a property manager.

Continuous participation.This is great if you are talking about an SMB with effectively connected Real Estate.Note rental activity is considered passive unless you meet the RE Pro threshold of 750 hours and more than 1/2 your time.This is the conundrum for passive real estate investors.If you have a full-time job or a large, time-consuming business it can be difficult or impossible to qualify.A huge loss from depreciation if you have one LP investment isn’t going to do anything for you.

I think that my previous contractor most likely did a bad job. maybe i should rebuild the entire shower. but, seems crazy to rebuild shower after remodeling less than one year ago. 

(This is in the Southeast part of the country.)Market FundamentalsPopulation Growth: 1.8%Median Household Income: $77,573Wage/Income Growth: 7.3%Unemployment Rate: 4.2%Job Growth: 2.7% (slight decline last 2 yrs)Home Ownership Rate: 59%Median Age:  35Employers are stables between Health, Tech., National Retailers & Shipping Companies, local schools and BankingCrime is 1.06 Violent Crimes & 9.82 for Property CrimesSchools are on average 6/7 out of 10. 

The management company is reluctant because if it sells they may be out of a job.