For the first part of your question even if you were working with a realtor, I don't personally know many that have a true pulse on rehab costs and I wouldn't make any investment decisions based on their rehab cost projections.My suggestion would be to study how to evaluate the Big 6 rehab costs: roof, siding, windows, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. 

We have seen properties for as low as $100k benefit from engineered cost segregation studies. 

Then, within that market, study areas where it is actually less expensive to own than it is to rent.  

We purchased a property in early October and are placing it in service this week (mid November).We had intended to run a cost segregation study and try to accelerate depreciation which we can deduct against our W2 (assuming material participation).However, we have been reading through the IRS guidelines (eg publication 946 on Property Depreciation) and there seems to be the concept of "short year" which would mean that we can only deduct ~1.5/12 of a year's worth of depreciation in 2024.Is this correct or are there any different rules for STRs specifically?

What you can do to offset this profit is to invest in syndications that do cost segregation studies (which will lower your tax you pay).

I currently have to do a quick new market study to quickly filter out a market and it is tedious.I do believe the big names brokers are overpriced.

I would study the different real estate investing techniques that you could comfortably afford to get into and find the one that interests you the most and go for it.

@Jeremiah Mon education is vital but make sure you take action on the items you study.

Please study engineering and you’ll have more of a grasp of why measuring amperes (electricity) or volume (water or natural gas) lends itself to reasonable precision.  

Hi my Name is Travandra but you can call me Nicki, I have been studying and trying to get into real estate wholesaling for over 10 years.