@Cole Booth Your combination of private capital and owner financing as a strategy for optimizing leverage in real estate purchases are great strategies.

In Texas it is less of a loser, but still non-optimal even after tax considerations in my book.

Based on our clients experience Evolve doesn't do a great job with optimizing pricing, providing a good guest experience (reflecting into negative reviews), and aren't a complete hands-off experience for the investor - if that is what you're looking for. 

We learned it all from a book on Amazon called Optimize Your Airbnb, I wouldn't even try the short term rental game without reading that book first.If you are seriously interested in Airbnb, I would pay $20 on AirDNA dot com and pay for the Airbnb data for YOUR zip code.

My initial thought here is that having expected rents of just over 1% of the purchase price is usually a good sign if you are willing to self-manage, but the fact that this home is in a less than stellar neighborhood could make the deal less than optimal.

The other thing is that my experience without-of-state investing is not optimal.

We can discuss what optimal qualities and unorthodox things and perspectives to consider when searching for an STR later, but one thing is for sure.

The location is optimal as it is walking distance to downtown. 

You could probably optimize your holdings a little based on your situation. 

The optimal choice depends on factors such as property value, down payment, and your comfort level with different financing types.