Focus on these core concepts:Projected hold timeProjected cash-on-cash returnsProjected profits at the sale Projected Hold Time: ~5 YearsProjected hold time, perhaps the easiest concept, is the number of years we would hold the asset before selling it.

Hello BP -Has anyone had any experience utilizing Host Financial for financing your STR or LTR properties? 

Are you working to fun/hold the deal or is the asset working for you and paying you with cash flow?

Tells you who they are in regards to financial habits. 

Before buying I'd recommended looking at meeting minutes for the HOA board, look at financials, and talk to residence about the STR environment.

Once I’m in a financial position to purchase a new primary residence, I would then use owner-occupant financing to purchase this second property, move into it and rent out the first condo at market price.

I'm currently an investment agent and in a position financially where I'm ready to start with my first investment property.

That might be an appropriate rent increase, but it is not a panacea for fixing the financial problems with the project.

One of your biggest challenges will be separating all the online fluff from reality.EXAMPLE: several S8 "gurus" have already been exposed as frauds, but unfortunately, they sucked in thousands of investors.You're an engineer, use your education & experience to start building up a logical approach to investing in rentals:)Start with this:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.So, when investing in areas they don’t really know, investors should research the different property Class submarkets.

It sounds like it would be easier (time being the best asset) to just sell and pay taxes up front if my goal is to get a clean break from Cali?