So the best solution is to buy a house needing extensive renovation for cheap and use that discount to change the layout when you bring it up to living standards. 

I'm in the process of purchasing a STR and am intrigued by the 3-2-1 buy down. 1st year of the loan would be 4.5%, 2nd year 5.5%, 3rd year 6.5%, 4th year standard market rate.

@Michael ReilmanKohler and American Standard both make great toilets, but Kohler toilets have unique parts that you can't replace at Home Depot or Lowe's.

It's mostly Class A properties, a few Class B.You may find the below copy & paste info useful in addressing your question:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

If the property does not require an extensive rehab and just needs cosmetic repairs then a standard landlord dwelling policy in most cases depending on the carrier.

I looked into the maintenance option years back to discover a trend of:  apx. 8% monthly fee which only included rent collection (everything else from maintenance to turnovers etc, extra, and poor reputation on repairs.)

If you don't understand the basic principles of construction, market standards (i.e. average cost per labor hour, cost per sqft for flooring, cost per sqft for hang/finish drywall) then you may find yourself getting taken advantage of without even knowing it.

By higher I am talking 7% acquisition fee, which is much higher than the standard 2 to 4% that you will see with other syndicators.

I would recommend buying a standard SFH with opportunities for an ADU, or a split floor plan where you could rent out the rooms!

I would look for an experienced agent of my own who understands what is standard for your market.