If you only plan on owning 2-4 properties, then there's really no harm in self-funding them unless you know a better, safer way to make more than the going interest rate on that money (most investment mortgages right now are about 7%, maybe effectively 5.5-6% after taxes depending on your brackets and tax structure).

I wouldn't want to be doing a new BTR deal right now and ReFi at a 7-8% rate, unless of course it penciled.When subbing out to other contractors, you can expect to pay 20-40% more than it would cost you to manage/do the work, so make sure you bake that into your model as well.

The key is to understand the capital stack, who is in line in front of you and what are their terms.The people who are getting burned may have known there was debt in front of them, but did they know it was short term or variable - did they know all the details to make a good judgment on the investment.If a property had 20 year fixed debt at 70% would you take that over 3 year debt on a variable rate at 50%? 

One challenge about short term rentals is that they are not always booked and initially getting those bookings to a minute, people were more hesitant since we didn't have the super host and premier rating.

In many of the C-class neighborhoods, rental rates are exceeding the expenses for investors.As of April 2024, the median price of a home in Ohio was $238,700, which is a 4.7% increase from April 2023.

My costs after mortgage/ insurance/taxes  would be 2,987.18$ per month with a 7.125% rate. 

To research the market, we look at other Furnished Finder listings in the area to help determine competitive rental rates.

Did the POA confirm the interest rate, loan amount?

Due to the high interest rate, it is hard to make the strategy work -- the rent to price ratio needs to be very high (1.5%) to make positive cash flow.

I currently have a 30-yr fixed rate mortgage on a single family home that is my primary residence.