takes me out of contention with a lot of properties.Are most owners absorbing part of the cleaner's cost to remain competitive during down-rate periods?

They will help give you the lay of the land in that market and give you an idea of what you can expect and if they are a good agent they will let you know if your expectations are unrealistic for that market. 2) An agent in the market you are interested can recommend you to some and you would want to interview them once you get past the inspection period and closer to closing. 3) That would be the role of your agent.

They will normally pay it off during the redemption period. 

Examples of short and long term uses, HELOCs & CES.HELOC(Short Term)- Use a portion or all of the HELOC now knowing you're going to pay down quickly, which eliminates payments and interest.HELOC(Long Term)- Many HELOCs have 10 year interest only draw periods, while CES have a P&I payment, HELOCs may have less impact on cashflow over the long term.- Perhaps you think rates are going to move lower.

You could read 100 books and still not know enough because certain things must be learned through trial and error.

Is there a redemption period?   

You're essentially loaning someone $100, 000's of dollars at no interest for an undetermined period of time with no guarantee of getting it back, right?

Currently, when I include both refinance and sale proceeds, I get an unrealistic XIRR of 49%, while the average cash flow throughout the investment (7-year hold period) sat around 8%, and this seems incorrect to me. 

The redemption period has expired four months ago.

As my avg rental period is <8 days, and I have <14 days personal use at the property and believe I can meet the material participation test, this should be a non-passive activity.Specific Questions on Material Participation:1) Do hours logged for material participation in 2022 include time prior to placing the property in service (i.e. first half of 2022)?