This way, if the demand of short term apartments goes soft, or I learn that the downtime between tenants strains the income, it would still pay for itself if we go back to conventional year leasing.  

It rents out within a week every time it's vacant so in reality it has very little down time.

Keep that In mind when you're feeling down. Time

I try to use the down time between purchases as opportunity to network, learn, and re-calibrate the action plan.

Should a first time buyer always aim to start cash flowing immediately, as in buying a property that already has tenants, or should a couple months downtime to clean things up and find tenants not be a deal-breaker?

We have a posted lock down time at the entrance and all new renters are informed.5. 

The pool still has this downtime.  

@James Wise I bookmarked it and will read it on my downtime at work tonight.

Sometimes they will take you up on it and the benefit for you is that you can save yourself some vacancy downtime down the road when you go to finish the rehab on their units.

Instead, spend your down time (what little you'll have after working two jobs) learning about something fun.