Congratulations for thinking about your future.

This is my first investment of this sort and it has not worked out how I originally intended but I am learning from my mistakes and will be making better decisions in the near future What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

I think the before vs after pictures really speak primarily to your experience and ability to execute a project so it can help lenders gain comfort with future projects and allow you demonstrate what level of detail you except out of your contractors.

The only thing that bests fear is courage and we only need a mustard seed of that to get things going...People often spend money on college and never go in to the field they spent that money on...the greatest lessons and the ones most remembered are learned 'on the job'.Wishing you more good news in the future and an exceptional 2025. 

For context, downtown Alexandria performs super well as a rental market and bringing in $5.5k+ as the monthly rental income if you choose to move out of the househack in the future will be absolutely feasible (depending on the property of course).

When a tenant moves out, transfer the deposit back to Checking so it's ready to apply towards expenses or refund the Tenant.If you end up with excess funds in the Checking account, I recommend you transfer it to a third account designated explicitly for future investments.

Last thought (mainly for future readers), you may be talking about the 1 year FHA history if you have variable income.

Hire an attorney and proceed with the eviction.In the future, I recommend you don't accept "landlord references" from friends or family members.

I would consider doing a portfolio loan in the future but for now thats not necessary.

Separate the work into 3 separate categories: 1) Those that are specifically related to the future STR usage, 2) Those that benefit you while living in the house and have zero bearing on the future STR, 3) those that benefit both you and the future STR....assign a percentage to the usage.Be specific and complete.