I just spent a few weeks shopping for insurance policies on a Houston metro rental - it's really tough right now. 

It used to be a long way from shopping, etc, but Goodyear, the city next door, has also blossomed. 

Then 85254, which is further north and close to the TPC Scottsdale (home of the Phoenix Open) and shopping like Kierland Commons and Scottsdale Quarter.There is also a Facebook group for Scottsdale STR operators, which a few of my clients find helpful.Let me know if I can answer any questions for you.Melanie

(Or keep shopping?)

A lot of CA folks seem to want to shop only on Zillow, see 0, buy something, meet no one that is going to be supporting them, and then immediately lose money and get discouraged.

Alex:  Most of my clients start seriously shopping for the replacement property about the time they have a PSA on the relinquished property or perhaps after the earnest money goes hard on the replacement property. 

Excellent location in Mesa.I shopped around and I found a mortgage broker who was able to get me a 6.99% rate who took the loan to UWM (united wholesale mortgage).I negotiated a $15k seller concession I used for a 1-0 buy down so my rate for 1 year will be 5.99% and then revert to 6.99% for 30yrs. and then we used the rest of the concessions for closing costs. in 6 months or 12 months I will revisit to see if mortgage interest rates dropped significantly to justify a refinance to lock in a lower interest rate.part of the approval process for the Fannie Mae 5% mortgage is to make sure that i could afford this property and that i have good credit, my income is consistent and stable and it reflects that on my tax returns, I have sufficient capital reserves for the subject property and my other 10 Multifamily properties (6 months of PITI for the subject and then it's percentage based off of the loan amounts and how many properties you have)I agree, the more that government "helps" they therefore are increasing pricing.

I love to talk shop about rentals, hard money loans, notes, deals and sweat equity (preferably very little sweat but more effective planning.)

I would shop other lenders?

I think The Short Term Shop has a video series specifically on STR Legislation in Branson on Youtube as well.