I actually think that if the housing market ever takes as deep of a hit like 2008 again, and those households must combine, having decent affordable short term housing will increase in demand.

Based on my research, the greater Phoenix area is not much better than Calif when it comes to the cap rate.I would like to stay within a 2 hour flight distance if I would ever need to make a visit to take care of business being that I still have a day job and time will be a limited resource.

Would you ever consider buying 10 $100,000 SFH's outright?  

If you are ever going to borrow money later it will likely be at worse terms than the three loans you outlined above.I would invest any money you were planning on using to pay these debts downs on opportunities that pay greater than 5.49% returns.

Not really sure if that's standard for landlord policies, but working for a top 3 insurance company myself, I've never seen that, ever. 

You don't want a trail of that cash or house to you if she ever ends up in need of long term care. 

They would charge you more to try and save the old slate than you could ever hope to sell it for . 

@Jordan Daily did you ever get an answer to this?

(Why don't plumbers ever answer their phone?) 

I can have a fantastic property, but it is only ever as good as the manager that runs it.