I've crafted terms that are a win for me and for my buyer, but my intention is to hold the deed of the property until the buyers's note to me is paid in full, exactly as the banks do.   

It's logical but will only appraise based on comparable sales and, if it's an area with few STR sales in the past 12 months, it will appraise just like an owner occupied home.

It gets the job done, but there are a few things that I wish were different.  1.

But when you purchase a property, your basis for deprecation is the cost of the property to YOU (except in the case of a 1031 exchange, the rules are a bit different).

@Zachary Wurtz  The basic docs. for a real estate loan are a "promissory note" (often just called the NOTE) and a mortgage.

Checkout the ZipFinder feature in vestmap where you can choose your criteria - growth, income, median home price and use it to narrow down potential areas.

If you want to network or ask specific questions about your local market, go to your local real estate forum and connect with investors from your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/86-local-real-estate-networking5.

Love Sonoma, very beautiful area 

If you don't mind fixing up rough properties, we have found good opportunities in southern Virginia, we do a lot of renovate and hold in the Martinsville area

It also depends on your turnover rates and network in the areas.