And lower income means food eats up a higher percentage of income, so rent has to be a lower lower piece.But even beyond that, when you are in very low income areas, even trying to push a $20 rent bump is disproportionately high and will cause a tenant to move. 

They do not always.....sometimes people have to eat some of the cleaning fees to avoid turning off guests. 

The firm's fee will probably eat 1/4 to 1/3 of your savings.

That means not traveling unless necessary, less going out to eat/drinking and avoiding unnecessary expenses of all types till your HELOC and CC debt is close to nothing.

Once you transition one of the homes into a full time rental you will reap that benefit by filing a schedule E at the end of the year.There are a few loopholes to consider like calling one home a "Vacation/Second home" which allows you to pull out 80% LTV with a better rate. 

It’s all about finding a balance that works for everyone involved.Regarding closing with short-term private money, it’s an option, but you’d want to weigh the costs and ensure that it doesn’t eat into your profits too much.

I would agree that the best way to manage this situation is to forgive any late fee incurred and eat the NSF fee as well this one time.  

If that means a second job or eating noodles every night, so be it. 

I can say that self-managing a STR from afar is beyond me (no experience as a property manager) so that would eat into cash flow. 

. - if you need two stairwells and an elevator, that will of course drive costs way up and it also eats into your floor plate area and can crush layouts on a smaller building, possibly turning your small CMX2.5 lot you'd planned to build 5 stories on into what may as well be a CMX2 lot and allow only 3 stories, since you can't actually fit 2 stairwells, an elevator, a hallway all the way through from front to rear, a small lobby, a mail room, etc.