@Scott Trench - have you considered investing in short term rentals, materially participating, and having the average stay be less than 7 days?

Because that is when the impacts are most felt of everything one has to do with the now pile of ashes. 90 days to do nothing forces people to engage with staying. 

@Grant Shipman, I will say, I have not explicitly seen anyone violate these rules (that I know of), but more commonly there are a lot of people who have comfort operating at the margins.I.e. compliance officers/attorneys that stop at the letter of the law may say: "investment manager X, you can advertise your company all you want.  

I think it would be better just to stay on good terms and let him know you will contact him when you are ready to sell.

- This ties into the previous question a bit, but we have around $70k that we could be comfortable deploying into this if we find the right deal. 

The housing market is always changing, and staying informed is the key to making smart moves.

When i was younger I used to help her with renovations on some of these properties.I asked her about 2 years ago why she never went multifamily and she said that she was afraid of stepping out of her comfort zone and wanted to stick with what she had known and done forever.

Just personally, I would never do an absentee landlord kinda thing....Too many moving parts, too much to go wrong and cuts into your profit big-time....Sentimental value is one thing, but not if you end up hating the house down the road.....Stay local, plenty of opportunities in good ole AZ.....

You will also need to vet out contractors in the area to ensure you that they can stay on top of your project and will do what they say.

Of course, all channels can work.. from seller financing to foreclosures.. but from my 30+ years in real estate, I’ve found focusing on cash flow analysis tends to pay off more reliably.So here’s the big question that might help steer your next steps.. what do you think would make landlording less stressful for you.. a property manager, or maybe a smaller property until you get more comfortable?