@Ruei-Jiun Hung How did everything pan out?  

AirDNA and other similar sites label these areas as high demand for short-term rentals and I always figure it can be turned into a long-term rental if it doesn't pan out.

Pacific northwest in some of the rain shadow areas  like Wenatchee.   

I'd recommend checking out Pacific Wholesale Mortgage www.pacwm.com  They will take new MLOs and give solid training to help get your feet wet. 

For example, at one point I felt I was doing all the cleaning in the kitchen--and when the roommate did clean, he'd just screw up my pans/gadgets/etc--so we had a talk about it and he paid for a maid to come and clean the kitchen and his bathroom twice a month.

Hey I just moved here from LA and was fortunate to be recommended by a lender to work with Ben Ficker from equity pacific real estate.

Ideally you'll have backup financing in place as well if the seller financing doesn't pan out. 

I imagine this buyer demand flash in the pan will settle down again once we get into the fall, just like it did last fall and winter.Sorry, being long winded here; story short, the areas you will see great cash flow in the KC metro right now Is C market add-value single families, particularly those with unfinished basements.

This is key b/c with todays higher interest rate environment, it can be very challenging to making the numbers pan out when analyzing with property management included.

Nope.Tenants shopping around is part of the business.What is the driving concern -  spending time on a candidate and not panning out?