ThanmaI would recommend focusing on Anderson, SC, as it has experienced significant growth in recent years and serves as a more affordable alternative to Greenville, SC.

While the interest rate might be higher, you eliminate the risk of needing to refinance or sell later, making it a safer option if your goal is to hold the property long-term without any financial uncertainty.If maximizing cash flow now is a priority and you're comfortable managing the future refinancing risk, owner financing with a balloon could be the better choice.

Alternatively, if you have self-employment income, consider sponsoring a Solo 401(k), as it exempts leveraged real estate from UBIT altogether.

Unless there exists some alternative revenue source for a Paperstac-like platform to profit from (beyond transactions) or some amazing value proposition not already provided by Paperstac, it's hard to envision a similar site for smaller players doing well. 

About a year or two ago I pivoted and started flipping and finding alternative strategies, but I have realized those cannot replace this strategy, they can be in addition to it, but I need to continue buying, moving, and keeping as a rental every couple of years because this really is the best strategy for building long term wealth.Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Ask for documentation that justifies these alterations.It's essential to feel confident and informed throughout the lending process, so don't hesitate to advocate for yourself and seek out advice or alternative options.

You may not get it but set the bar high, or the alternative is you won't close. 

We can use alternative documentation if self-employed such as 12-months business or personal bank statements.

However, not everyone has the income to qualify conventional, so the alternative route would be DSCR loan where the program doesn't look into your income, instead it evaluates based on the subject property rental performance based on the ratio system.

Now this is my opinion and for others it’s very different depending on the situation - I just wanted to share an alternative point of viewRegarding what has more wear and tear, I would say short term rentals have more wear and tear to them than long term tenants but also depends on the tenants.