My last property, which should have been very attractive to voucher holders, had 100+ inquiries, 20+ applicants, and... 1 was a S8 voucher holder.I chose a cash paying tenant and she's amazing!

Following on the previous poster, we did use hard money to fix and flip, also regular mortgages before I learned how costly they are for short term loans in closing costs (coming and going), and then DSCR mortgages that do not report to personal for LTRs and STRs. 

This one asset will not make or break your portfolio, like you said it won't even cash flow well so really it's in the portfolio to pad the number of houses in the portfolio.On the other hand...170k pretax is around 102k clear after short term capital gains tax.That 102k gets you liquid and keeps the journey going. 

That being said, You should never feel like you cant call someone back to a job if their repair failed or came up short of what was agreed upon.

Due diligence was trust in the #2 guy, who left shortly after, and talking to 3 "satisfied" investors. 

Additionally, these attract a lot of inexperienced buyers who started in the single family or four plex space who are trying to go bigger. 

Having immediate and constant control of property, plus value add is the most attractive part of REI. $300k in liquidity is certainly a good starting point.

My short term goal was to get 1-3 rental properties and start building equity. 

Decide if you want to focus on short-term tactics like property flipping, long-term wealth creation, or passive income generation.

In the short-term, get a wifi thermostat put it in a place where it can't be touched and program it however you like.