Originally posted by @Mike Cumbie:Question 1 is do they have an existing lease?

It's his niche, but I think he is very helpful for people who know nothing about international investing because there are some good overviews of the viability of the markets and regulations of STR.

They are billed as "a scientific approach to single-family rentals" and use "institutional grade property management," which usually means they are a tech company in real estate and likely either don't have the existing property management relationships in each area or you chose an area where they don't have enough units through Roofstock for the PM they chose to care.

If in the rare chance they do allow short term rentals in the HOA rules/regulations and association documents, don't be surprised if they change that ruling after you buy. 

However, I don't think they have resources to investigate these sorts of things and that policies exist not to prosecute them because they are likely small claims (under $10k in my state) so that the aggrieved person can seek a remedy themselves in civil court.

So, if you put in 20K, you could set the bid up to the amount of the 100K total debt(80K existing + 20K additional) to ensure that the property reverts to you as the lender.

You can easily report them to the regulators if they do something fraudulent and can pay fines and/or have their license revoked. 

Could you sell 1-10 of your existing properties and reinvest in one or two more lucrative opportunities?

Although normally it is better to start with an existing location. 

I'm not sure which places are best to focus on with rules and regulations getting strict in some places.