It is a very volatile industry and its experiencing diverging trends.

They will also dictate the terms of the loan, how it's filed, qualifications, etc.However, if you mean PML as in your friends/family that have NO experience in real estate and just have money sitting around...then I would certainly to counsel you to lean on some type of mentor or other experienced investor in Houston on what to do. 

The more experienced they are, the harder it is for them to blame other people. 

Any advice or lessons learned from more experienced wholesalers would be greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance for your help!

Most are opting to buy a higher priced property in better locations and with a more experienced team.  

@Mindy Jensen As a contractor myself I've personally experienced this many times over the course of my career.

I was hoping to get some feed back from my experienced colleges.

I’ve experienced success in the STR market here in St Pete myself but I’ve since transitioned my properties to long term rentals for convenience and time management sake.

Living in the Los Angeles area sounds somewhat similar to what you experienced with cost of homes etc. thank you for writing this up!

Hire an experienced real estate agent (20+ years in the biz) to run a market analysis for you.