If you're not already extremely well connected, buy some index funds (or the next Nvidia - maybe the current Nvidia still? 

@Kieron Osullivan That was EXTREMELY helpful, thank you so much.

We have a savings account where we split up into different buckets (from our w2 and passive income) and one bucket is for real estate and when we have enough to acquire another asset we will consider it.I am not a fan of borrowing 100% of the transaction costs including closing costs as it will be extremely difficult to make money many times on those types of deals.

The current owners have extremely low occupancy and are open to selling.

Over the last (3) years I have seen some extreme cases of expedited equity where an investor buys an older home or "Ugly Inventory" and then bats clean up on the ARV in 12 months.To give you an example I helped an investor refinance her home in 2023 pull cash out to buy a $65K home all cash.

Overall, the setup and funding process was extremely straight-forward and the customer service was great.  

While it’s not impossible to close in mid December and still meet all requirements of the STR loophole, it will be extremely difficult due to the nature of hitting 150 hours, having it rented for 15 days or greater and having the avg stay be no greater than 7 days and not a decimal more.

I'm absolutely not interested in leasing fast at all and I'm extremely picky about tenants and I do things like require a large security deposit (even for section 8 renters, I have three of them and love them), don't supply appliances, take my time doing background checks and arranging multiple calls/meetings with potential tenants. 

I feel like having some good experts helping me clearly identify best practices and targets for success (instead of guessing) to be extremely helpful. 

That's extremely difficult :(The good news is, it sounds like you have equity in your property.