@Chris Kay finding a quality, cost-effective contractor is extremely difficult:(There are thousands of contractors that are great talkers, but rarely perform within budget.Standard bait & switch is to lowball a bid, then once they get started all sorts of things "pop up" that somehow their bid didn't cover.

It also greatly effects the STR and MTR market with the BMT graduations, etc… The last few years have been very slow and the rental market has been flooded with investors at the same time.

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

I’m also making the property my primary residence to lower upfront costs, effectively turning it into a house hack.With this setup of me now occupying a room and not including utilities. 

Here is the source for the commission rate, right from the Sitzler NAR lawsuit judgement (bold text added):"In addition to training, Plaintiffs have presented expert testimony showing that Section 2-G-1 had the effect of stabilizing commission rates.

It can be difficult and time consuming to find every possible entry point but Section 8 is going to tell you that it's your responsibility to eliminate entry points. 

Tons of double sided tape used which results in a fair amount of extra effort to restore (most cases paint comes right off the wall requiring patching sanding etc, some cases Good-off was effective.

I'm always looking for ways to provide value to my tenants while making our rental properties stand out & this seems like an innovative (and cost effective!)

But if your looking to cash flow like $500 or more per month you might want to look into more cost effective markets where you can purchase a property very cheap and the rents will give you that type of cash flow your looking for.