Find a narrow area, then focus on improving your expertise/knowledge and you will have an informational edge that will pay huge dividends long term because unlike most people you will know what the true value of an asset is and can calmly pull the trigger when others are scared and can calmly not pull the trigger when others blinded by greed.

The implication is cash flow is  unlikely to improve significantly better than inflation.  

However, everyone can make huge improvements by educating themselves.

Hey Dave — love this response and appreciate you taking the time to respond.unfortunately someone is going to have to take on the burden of improving homes, whether it is a BRRRR or F&F strategy.

Platforms like Airdna offer insights into the top-performing properties, which investors can model and improve upon for better performance.From my perspective, Cancun, Playa del Carmen (PDC), and Tulum share similar risk-reward profiles, with Cancun being the most mature, followed by PDC and then Tulum.

Whatever you land on, make sure you save enough capital for furnishings and improvements. 

So, yeah it's still got improvement but there going a dang good direction. 

I would much rather have the benefit of cash flow, forced equity through improvements, appreciation, and depreciation working for me. also have the ability to sell or cash out refi if I needed a large sum of money in the future.

I'm also considering doing mid-term rental (travel nurses/business people) in combination with long-term rental to improve cash flow.

It does not.Here is the complete, relevant statute (as amended):"Real estate broker" means any individual or business entity, including a partnership, association, corporation, or limited liability company, who, for compensation or valuable consideration, (i) sells or offers for sale, buys or offers to buy, or negotiates the purchase or sale or exchange of real estate, including units or interest in condominiums, cooperative interest as defined in § 55.1-2100, or time-shares in a time-share program even though they may be deemed to be securities or (ii) leases or offers to lease, or rents or offers for rent, any real estate or the improvements thereon for others, or (iii) sells or offers to sell, buys or offers to buy, or negotiates or otherwise deals in real estate contracts, including assignable contracts, on two or more occasions in any 12-month period.The newest language (in italics) refers to individuals or entities who DEAL IN REAL ESTATE CONTRACTS.