Now appears to be the start of a tipping point where people want to sell, but there aren't many buyers.

When you first approach the homeowners about helping them out of their property, you'll want to let them know that you aren't going to save their mortgage you're just trying to give them a clean escape from having that defaulted mortgage on their credit.

If local deals aren’t working, try out-of-state markets or connect with local investors for fresh ideas.

I totally get it—starting in STR can be tough, especially when cold calling and emailing aren’t working.

Also F is very important because it shows you are focused on small things that can have big rewards over the long-term and you aren't complacent.

If I'm looking to househack with my family (I had a toddler and a newborn the last time we did it) I might be interested in 1/3 of these neighborhoods, of which a few will absolutely produce some income (assuming you're number's aren't ultra-conservative) upon moving in year 2-3.

It’s easy to find tenants, population/jobs are increasing, and property taxes/insurance aren’t skyrocketing. 

I have some banking contacts in Ottumwa but they aren't interested in financing that far away.

You aren't touching anything on the Roaring Fork for almost any price, no matter the square footage.Location is king, because location equals desirability, and desirability translates into more rental demand, and in some cases, substantially more.  

You can buy part of a note or perhaps a small note through corporate entities, crowd funding, 506 entities under SEC, but guess what, the SEC only authorizes the formation and operation of pooling investors, these set ups absolutely do not give license to sell or trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds or mortgages as a broker dealer, those requirements are in addition to the pooling of funds authorizations.