If you tie the bonus to a new lease, a bad employee will lower standards to find tenants quickly.

So is it equally illegal when the large landlords drop rental prices in a building as vacancy increases and the market softens?

@Bryan HartlenManaging low-end properties can be demanding due to higher tenant turnover, increased maintenance needs, and frequent rent collection issues.

Fortunately I have all the standard contingencies.I also question what is a fair price for insurance.  

We decided to do a full rehab to get nearly double the rent ($2900)and increase the ARV to $260k.  

Ensure you collect a proper security deposit (typically one month's rent in Florida) to cover potential damages.Your plan to increase rent next year makes sense given rising costs (taxes, insurance, and maintenance).

LTRs with long term conventional financing and standard management aren't really cash flowing anywhere right now. sure, there are lower cost markets that look better on paper, but there are costs associated with those supposedly cheap markets as well - deferred maintenance, more challenging tenant base, higher cost turnovers as a percentage of the rent.2. i wouldn't pick a random market thousands of miles away based solely on statistics or numbers. 

Rent rates have increased so quickly over the last few years.

Despite the storms in W FL we are seeing YoY rate and occupancy increases 24-25.  

Whether or not you believe there will be drastic changes, we are already seeing increasing weather events with unusual patterns like the hurricane that whipped through Central (Inland) Florida in 2024.