So we just did the best we could with what was available and it turns out the guests don't mind at all.

Have been super interested in the Westchester market, been looking into New Rochelle,Ossining,and Yonkers  would love to be around more like minded investors looking In the same areas!

My first MF I represented the buyer on I made 100k. for maybe a weeks worth of work. 3. if your going to be looking a more resi style duplex 4 plex a lot of those get listed and having access to the MLS is far superior to any other on line listing service ONE simply because you will be able to talk to the actual LIsting agent not someone paying for leads.And then of course having access to MLS lock box's and not relying on agents.. this is huge.Now if your maybe going to buy one property sometime in the future and you have no interest in learning the RE laws of your state or making any money with transactional real estate then sure.. its a pass.. although I would still recommend the pre license course so you learn the basics  the vocabulary and states unique laws.. knowledge is power in RE.

Also I would consider being a new agent in a market with no inventory and no buys will be a grind with little pay. 

The way I'm looking at it, if my spouse and I only do employer matching for the 10 years we would have more than enough in there and still 10 years out from being able to access it.I do plan on doing 401k loans for deals if the numbers check out, and I've considered rolling over some of our 401ks into roth IRAs to access our contributions but we'd have to pay taxes out of pocket (a big hit to cash flow) and we couldn't touch it for 5 years.  

Keep in mind though it takes some long term relationships to pull off Horizontal and get bank rates.. your not going to just walk in and get a loan..

If your side could rent for $1,400 then that's what you should pay so you have money to set aside and build a reserve.

@Tom HallAt 7% if you can I would pay it down as investing it net after tax gains may not get you the 7% you are paying - so it’s less riskDownside is you lose liquidity of that money as it’s tied in your propertyIf rates come down in future you can refinance and even take some of the cash out.Regarding your question are rates coming down, a lot of factors come into play but right now it does not appear there will be significant changes to rates over next 3-6 months.

Installing thermostats with regulated heat control (we pay heat) 3.

It's a great market STRs as long as the numbers still make sense with those regulations in mind.