Can’t wait to see the 1200 sqft extra house we are building for one of our workers.  

With all of that said, my main goal is to have long term appreciation and if there is a little extra cashflow at the end of the month, great. 

Partnering with a wholesaler sounds fine, but check the real estate licensing laws in your state before bringing a buyer for a commission.You might consider getting your real estate agent's license and legitimately earn what your skills, drive, and experience truly command. exactly wholesaling or bird dogging is not a life time or long time occupation  RE sales can be lifetime and if your any good at it at about year 10 you should be getting all your sales from referrals and such.

@John Cooper when you or someone you care about is living in the home it is important to be extra vigilant in choosing tenants.

Great if you want to add rentals or non owner occupied properties to your portfolio but not so great if you wanted that winter log home in big bear CA or Mammoth lakes, CA.The good news is you're from TN so you have no earned income tax from the state on wages only interest and dividends in certain cases so thats a pro right?

Even at a blended 13% rate, the after tax yield on these higher risk notes was closer to 7.5%, as I work full time and earn good W2 and other investment income.

In practice, this could mean 5 extra days that no rent is collected.  

I've allowed pets in my STR for five years and haven't had any problems except some extra cleaning a couple times, which was paid for by the guest. 

The state’s housing is also ranked as the fourth most affordable in the country.Alabama currently has the second-lowest average property tax rate in the country at 0.4%, which helps investors keep more of the money they earn.

That depends, but you can see from a bunch of posts on here that so far you're getting shafted performance-wise because a bunch of people aren't getting any dividends during a time when they could easily be earning 4-5% or more in a basic bank CD.