STR people don't really care about access to a grocery, MTR will.

So I think you might have misinterpreted what it was saying and it  might make sense if you read the worksheets carefully - you do not include any period of non-qualified use that occurred after the last day that the taxpayer or spouse used the property as the principal residence during the 5-year period prior to the date of sale.

Having said that, yes I am fully expecting to have tenants that absolutely don't care about anything and will be headaches. 

Once in awhile, some internal person makes a mistake and there is a slight delay.The bigger problem is screening S8 tenants to get one that pays THEIR part of the rent on time and takes decent care of the property.We just had eviction court today with a tenant not paying their rent portion AND deliberately causing damages, so their home failed the S8 inspection.

I could care less about the "tax break" angle as that is your distraction. 

Also recognize that construction costs will be 2-3x more expensive in this area than they were in Pittsburgh so be careful and make sure to understand pricing before going into a rehab. 

Be careful with new build communities that won't be fully built out during your hold time horizon.

I wish you the best in your RE journey and would love to share my knowledge if you ever want to meet one-on-one.Take Care!

As much as I wanted to make something in Texas work, there was just too much demand from 2nd home buyers that drove up prices to a point where investment returns, even in 2021-2022, were tight (vacation home buyers that didn't care about the investment return and just wanted a beach/lake/hill country home for personal use). 

Some of them messaged me to say be careful, as they felt I was being encouraged by the program to have a wreckless disregard and take a dicey flip gamble and lose money.