Often, these are some of the hardest properties to get title insurance on for various reasons, and your policy may not be quite the same coverage-wise as what you'd get on a "normal" purchase on the MLS.

Choose wisely.

Price wise, I was competing with the unfurnished rental market.

It might be more wise to think more on entrepreneurially, and wait to see what happens- and look for ways to exploit that solution in ways that can make you money.

Given the strong local market, holding onto the renovated home and aiming for appreciation could be wise, especially if you believe it will outpace your short-term costs.

A nice SFR (single family rental) brick home or perhaps a duplex but for your first purchase actually, wise to just stick with an SFR to keep it real simple.

Quote from @James Wise: Quote from @Jonathan Greene: Quote from @V.G Jason: Quote from @Jonathan Greene: Quote from @V.G Jason: Your advice in this post is sound.But you're also the guy that hired and fired 50 agents.

Heck no, so you are trying to " time the market" not wise.  

I agree with Wise.

Not a wise thing to do for everyone, but for me, it was the thing I could have done.