We view everytime a borrower pays off on time as a win.

That means it would take you 8 years to recoup the extra 50K down on the conventional by saving $533 per month on the lower monthly payment.

Beginner investor looking to take the leap on our first property - about $30k in cash to put to work.

If your taking about a condo, you mostly likely can't do STR because of the HOA. 

For those that have yet to do this, it takes less than 10 minutes if you are a single member llc - just make sure to have a copy of some sort of identification. we did all of ours .. and our attorney contacted us as well and let us know to get them done or he would do them for us. 

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

Insurance companies are taking a close look at building materials, quality, and updates. 

The idea is to find a pocket or neighborhood that offers the right combination of estimated ROI and rental demand, giving a balance of cash flow and tenant demand.In my view, this approach provides a more reliable signal of demand than relying solely on pricing adjustments or short-term market trends.

I have also have saved almost $50K so far to take a start in this game and also my personal credit score is above 750.I'd like someone to guide me purchasing my first property and want to kickstart with a small property first.

Your overhead and cost of capital are something to consider as part of your plan. remember if you get an investor to invest $250k but it takes you 3 months to deploy that  capital that is $5625 in interest you owe them, and say you can only invest $200k of it you are gonna have money always sitting on the sidelines.