Just be aware that a refi starts the clock all over on the standard mortgage requirement of owner-occupying the property for the next 12 months.A lot of people get away with breaking this requirement and all the lender can do is accelerate your mortgage if they find out.

[Hmm Federal government hires agents, just FYI. get some sales under your belt and you will have options,one thing though and this is a big question you have to consider -do you want to be an agent or an investor - two completely different approachs, having license can help. having a solid w-2 will help you buy and fix and own property. many agents suffer qualifying as agents. the w-2 is your ticket to flip and refi etc]From reading various blogs, part-time real estate agents' success is limited in that a good portion of clients may want to contact their agent or see a property during the day and during the week.

On average, before you buy I would get a contractor, more than one, and several savy ones, to come look at the big ticket items on that property.

We then converted both to year round STR until the Great Recession (GR).  

If you're trying to predict the future with math you're going to have a bad time.As for the vacancy vs price, you have a pretty small range and most people will want a round number. $742 might be the most profitable on paper but you can't really charge that, tenants may stray away from that, or a large number of other unknowns.

I started to include formal LOIs (letters of intent) in the last couple of mail rounds and got a few negative responses.

As long as your gross rents cover all the expenses, that is your NOI.The reserve 'should be' independent of the income the property but the reality is that most owners simply don't have the discipline or the deep enough pockets to do that.Reserve amount is the a calculation of how long before you have to replace 'big' ticket items at a property (e.g.

Its no secret that Memphis is  a buy hold investor market has been for decades.What I see personally in the past  sellers TK companies and PM was not putting out the best product and or the renters could abuse the landlords.. creating burntout landlord syndrome and continual merrygo round of inventory.since your not building 5 or 10 thousand new houses a year like other markets ( for instance my market in Portlandia will build over 5 thousand new SFR's to accomodate these home buyers)  if inventory is tightening like this.Its becasue.1. 

In Norco, La alone there are 3 oil refineries, 2 chemical plants(one of them makes the household weed killer, Round-up) and a grain elevator... so you are looking at hundreds of workers all needing places to stay.

Jason's talking about street gang activity like enforcing the law, arresting the drug dealers that are trying to string our your kids, and issuing parking tickets.