Get a gander at your competition and see what they are offering and take it up a notch.You might check Fiverr or TaskRabbit (not sure for interior designer) and see who is out there.They should be able to help you out remotely and without spending a ton of dough.

Like yard maintenance, trash pick up etc.

Both phases took about 12 months each to rent up.  

I know this would not produce the greatest return, but I am 42YO with younger kids, and that immediate cash flow would really free up options for me and my family. 

Move them up as much as possible each year until you're back to market rent without driving them away by jumping too much at once.

It's funny, that's all I was thinking about every time they brought up "securing my spot" for $1,000.00 down...."

Hi Stacy, looking at your numbers, I come up with the following:Dep Recap is 25% on 56,631.30 = 14,157.83Fed Cap Gain is 20% on the remainder of the gain, 20% on 126,739.90 = 25,347.97State Gain is 7.25% on 183,371.20 = 13,294.41NIIT is 3.8% on 183,371.20 = 6,968.111

Yes, Look it up.

Quote from @Rob Cassagne: Hi everyone,I'm looking to buy my first STR, and have read up on how to analyze a market for cash flow/CoC/etc.

The day to day is easy.... it is the asynchronous events that your random buddy isn't equipped to handle that end up making it hard to manage from out of state.