My number one goal for 2018 was creating a financial plan for my fiancee and I to support our early retirement goals, and that led me to real estate. 

I visit and analyze the property, and estimate rehab costs (with experienced inspectors and contractors), add a buffer for unexpected repairs, and provide a financial model with an ROI comparison of a traditional rental vs. short-term rental.Any guidance/tips (positive comments only please) would be greatly appreciated!

I have been heavily educating myself and have now started down my road to Financial Freedom.

Investing while renting is actually the best approach financially.

I got my mortgage through Shaneka Pedersen at Elements Financial. 

After listening to a lot of podcasts I realized how great it would be to be financially free.

At the time I thought I might be potentially making the financial mistake of my life and I did not know anyone local to validate what I was doing.While the cash flow was nice and I had proof of concept I found that a duplex required more management attention than I could handle with an international job and gone most of the time.

It is really hard to even get deals from your sphere of influence because there are several other licensees in that sphere.I have never hired anyone so I can't really offer you input there. 

I've invested in/renovated a number of single family properties in the suburbs of Philadelphia (Mainline), with values ranging from $400k-$1.3m and decided to tackle a significantly larger project 6 months ago; comps were incredible with high sale prices and very low days-on-market, it looked like a home run.The loan is under an LLC but with a personal guarantee; the renovations are complete and the house is beautiful, but the market has been unbelievably slow compared to the previous 3 years, on which our financials were based. 

I don't have a stance one way or another....either one can be financially beneficial if you make it work.