So now that the waters have been sufficiently muddied, the choice is yours.

So I've found a regional vacation market, the Poconos, that seems like it has properties in my price and potentially sufficient cash-on-cash returns to be worthwhile.

Also, if the structure does not sit on a structurally sufficient foundation it is personal property - like a mobile home - rather than real property. 

There needs to be room for sufficient value-add renovations.

As for paying with certified check, in most counties you only need to pay a deposit; the sheriff should have rules that set the amount of the deposit to be a percentage of the winning bid or a fixed minimum amount, whichever is greater.You determine your maximum bid, and then get checks sufficient to pay that deposit amount based on your maximum bid.

I hope those are sufficient. 

By the same token, if it's a good value, I'm very open to advice on how to market this to investors that specialize in this area.Here are the notes from our acquisitions team: "Commercial Hotel and Inn with 75 rooms/75 bt.

This avoids the 3-4 FHA problem with rents not meeting the self sufficiency test.

As with most big decisions in life, insufficient planning means you leave a lot up to chance or luck, and you are sufficiently prepared for unforeseen obstacles in the future.

This means that you model the income and expenses for each.The reality is that those are two very different income models, long term rental is a passive income investment (per IRS, not reality), STR is a business.If you are conservative, you want the STR to be able to function as an LTR in the event that sufficient bookings don't happen or local regulation makes operating the STR untenable.When you buy an STR you should be looking at very different criteria than if you are buying an LTR.