Your background in Wall Street trading and current work at a property tech startup give you a great foundation for this journey.Starting with a rental property in North Carolina is a smart move.

I totally agree, so many properties there are new and beautiful that there needs to be *something* to really stand outYou make a really good point re: no plan B, and in general I’ve seen the home values in that market depreciating (assuming because of the boom / growth in supply in the last couple years).I might be wrong here but I assumed that a general trade off between vacation market and metro areas would generally be that strs in vacation markets don’t really have a plan BI’m pretty split at the moment, but really appreciate your thoughts

I think this is the gift and the curse of a still emerging asset class (short term rentals) - as it becomes more "institutional" i.e. more like commercial real estate with more sophisticated buyers then financials and systems for this will likely become more streamlined and stable, but we are still in a place where the buyer pools are more newish investors or typically residential basic investors, so not has experienced or sophisticated evaluating investments based on a detailed financial analysis like more seasoned commercial investors likely would.anyways, just a guess on what might be going on here

The trade off was you couldn't apply to a 4 year college but this was a way for kids to get the math credit they needed for a diploma. 

I'm a member of GaREIA, they have a google group where experienced local inveztors trade tested (and mostly reliable) contractors, legal helps, strategy.   

Acquire comprehensive knowledge, and then consider moving into the niche of distressed properties.OR Consider Passive Investment: You might want to invest with established, publicly-traded REITs specializing in distressed properties.To all the aspiring women out there, your aspirations are valid, and your dreams matter.

3) Recommend getting a HELOC for emergencies, after PMI removed, but don't use it for investing until you start saving money!

Once you have that agent they will be in your corner the whole time, they will have connection to professionals in trades, they will have the experience to guide you through tough decisions and be your second set of eyes on every thing.   

Trading is super stressful for sure.

I still have to work at this daily to get out of the blue collar mindset of trading time for money.