Lower costs mean better profits and fewer financing headaches, plus taxes and expenses are much lower than in places like Florida and NYC.

There are very successful STRs here, you just have to know the best areas to be profitable. 

I would also urge you to make sure you fully understand how they operate , A-Z (from how they make their profit to how many doors they are managing). 

I have not lived in the property two years and feel that any profit I may make on a sale would get chewed up by closing costs and capital gains. 

A good place to start figuring out profit/cash flow is to search the forums for the 4 Square Analysis. 

From what it looks like builder does not want to take a loss and what to negotiate sale where they do not take a loss even profit, since they are selling improved lots. 

To scale this route you need to have a good system in place to ensure you are profitable.

You have the tools and mindset that work with larger scale commercial so I would network until you meet someone who may let you run some of their deals with them and see what they look like in person.

I'm wondering if, since the plots are connected, I can move some of the square feet from the larger one, so that they're both over the "6,500 square feet for lots of record" threshold.

Don't split the work between multiple contractors if possible, finding one to do all or most of the work will keep prices down.Challenges were finding replacement pieces for certain items as manufactured homes were very different than stick built as well as going through state guidelines for affixing the house to the land Hey @David Jesperson, welcome to the BP Forum and congrats on completing your first solo deal AND making a nice profit!