You own it until you sell it.To make the most money as a wholetail you want to fix unattractive things (at low cost) and clean and spruce up the appearance as a whole.

I’ve gotten by with just cleaning the roots out annually at a few of our properties with clay pipes, and just replacing sections of collapsed pipes at others and the highest I’ve paid was $10k for replacing a ~30 foot section of collapsed orangeburg (that stuff is the worst).

One of my clients recently purchased a 4/2 single family house that was positive cash flowing, hit the 1% rule, and was able to execute a full cash out refinance so it was a clean BRRRR!

[I’m assuming I would be dealing with basics (communication, marketing etc.) as well as maintenance and cleaning.]Thanks again! 

here is the situation. i left a really good paying job to take care of my 81 year old parents because my dad is chronically ill and my mom is almost there. i wont go into too much detail, but my sis doesnt help them. ill leave it at that. we have a person who comes twice a week to help with cleaning and other household tasks. i carry the bulk of the weight cooking their meals, running errands, grocery shopping, picking up meds, and taking them to dr appointments. its a full time job. i get a small salary of $1000 a month from a care giver sub contractor for the VA. ive been paying my bills with what savings ive had, but only have a few months of funds left. i own a duplex. i have over 200k in equity. i live in texas and texas has weird laws about refi and heloc/heloans when the property is 4 units or less and owner occupied. i would rather not sell, but if thats my only option i will have to at some point.does anyone have any advice or possibly be able to point me to lenders who might be able to work with my situation?

@Rene Hosman I use Stessa as a diy accounting solution.

The place we rented was clean and well kept, and the only change we felt was the absence of our father, and change of residence.

If the inexperienced investor knew how much work, effort, time, analysis, negotiation, organization, capital, and knowledge it takes to successfully find, identify, evaluate, and close on a property that fits the criteria that gurus falsely claim they see 100’s of every day, 99% of them would abandon their real estate dreams” and pursue ostrich farms, mink breeding, or setting up a “down line” to sell condensed cleaning products that their “upline” has an exclusive distributorship on for the southwestern quadrant of Bisbee, Arizona.  

Minimum cash needed upfront though is usually why people can’t invest in an STR successfully - there’s two buckets I recommend and only two:bucket 1 gets 12-20% CoC and you need $185-$230k cash (depending on if you DIY)bucket two is 15-30% CoC and you need $315k-$335k cash. 

If you spend all that money on a DIY buy the best glue you can.