Raising rent tends to be more of an art than a science.

Your local partner can help verify if the area really supports those rents long-term.Regarding school ratings, they’re important for single-family homes but may not be as critical for duplexes, which tend to attract a more diverse renter pool (young professionals, retirees, etc.).

They tend to look at the bigger picture rather than just the fine print.

Memphis has a pretty affordable housing market and tends to offer solid rental yields, which might align well with your goals.

Could probably cut that down a little but I tend to underwrite conservatively. 

They're typically more expensive than a bank or conventional financing but can close much faster and tend to accept borrowers who can't achieve bank financing.

Good STR areas are often times desirable places to live as well, so prices tend to be higher in my experience. 

A buddy of mine invested early in that area, and let's just say he's not regretting it.From what I've heard, these massive projects tend to create ripple effects in the surrounding neighborhoods.

@William Coet it’s a different business model altogether.I love highly desirable areas that attract highly skilled high income college educated workforces.They tend to be more liberal and therefore the landlord tenant laws.The percent of their income that goes to rent is typically much less than 20% so a rental increase of 5-10% is nothing to them.They are typically lower cap rate areas and therefore every dollar of net operating income that is earned is explosive to the underlying asset value.

There are options that have no seasoning requirements, but they tend to be slightly more expensive so it's really up to you how you'd want to proceed.