My experiences were a couple of years ago and I was originally told the appraisal had been assigned and the rate would be $780 but then later I was told that appraiser was cancelled and they'd found someone else who it was assigned it for $935.

A couple thoughts on your question:I tell our STR investors in Colorado that their main goal should be to set up the right way right out of the gate.

As a couple others said emergency would negate the $500 threshold but they should contact you to notify when it happens.

We are good friends but that's also not an issue for them because they are a dual veteran couple.

My firm has several lenders who can seamlessly close in 15 days on 'traditional' mortgages at/below market rates and we've been doing so for a couple of years now. 

I’d rather have more properties with mortgages than a couple paid off properties.

Most of the homes we built on these lots sold at a profit, but a couple did not, again, because of the reasons above. 

I have been able to find a couple of options for this setup though, they just require separate leases for each room and sometimes 2-3 months of rental receipts as well. 

I also use the CRMs built in email to send out 8-10k emails spaced out through a couple of days.

It looks like they are setting our expectations for a couple years of litigation.