My wife and I were thinking of getting our next STR in the same area, but after seeing so many properties for rent and what some of them were charging it would be extremely challenging for us to find one that cash flows positive, or even break even, with today's interest rate and 25% down.When we got our first STR verifying the income projections was the hardest thing.

I moved here from Florida after seeing the projected growth.

-Carlos One thing to know, when you do a portfolio loan (cross collateralization), if you run into a financial downturn in the future and can't make a couple of payments, sometimes the lender can force the entire portfolio into foreclosure.

One of the project we did in Florida was like that.

Some providers stick Sec. 8 tenants in there so they can project higher returns. 

Do the work yourself do not buy a property that someone just paid little to nothing for renovated and now is asking Max market price.Find a TLC project and over time or when you get extra cash fix it up and renovate and higher rents will follow. 

My guess is if you had to evict them, the deposit was used for unpaid rent.For future, if you have the tenant pay the water directly (and it is tied to the house), get a copy of the bill either every month or every couple of months to make sure it is paid up. 

I do not plan on going on this adventure alone, but I do plan on coming in with a partner(s) in the future.

Im looking into seller finance for the future but I dont know yet at all.

I am thinking of getting my Real Estate Agent license to hopefully able to increase my funds for future new deals.