@Shannon Mogilinski I'd love to learn more about your meet-up!

It is a new construction home in an up and coming area.

What’s the biggest red flag you watch for when vetting borrowers?

You found the right place for information.

@Aubrey Adams-Thanks for the post / question -I would recommend developing a hypothetical plan  ( purchase price / loan amt needed ) and get pre approved ..this process is free and it will help get you organized and also to educate you  in many ways ..if you never end up buying - no worries and no costs have been wasted 

With just 5% down (yes, I paid PMI initially), we moved into the main bedroom, used the small first-floor room as my office, and rented out the other three bedrooms on Airbnb and Furnished Finder.

If you don't have a good foundation(bad debt paid off, $$ saved up) I would first focus on that.

The click on / locking type seems like what most investors use, but repairs seem difficult without having to re-do a large area. 

FHA is currently streamlining everyone through short sales.

It's important to understand the difference, and I'd recommend sticking with the REIT with depreciation advantages.The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes a 199A deduction and applies to certain income from pass-through entities (including REIT dividends) and allows individuals to take the 20% deduction against REIT dividend distributions that yields an effective tax rate of 29.6% or 37% (80% for upper bracket filers).