For someone just starting out the Certified Exchange Specialist designation is a nice one to have. 

I wanted to put this out there as a contest to ramp up responses and ideas for creative financing approaches to see who can help me in figuring how best to structure the deal to minimize my risk, increase learning opportunities during the process, and maximize returns in light of minimizing risk.

@Michael Ohman   If you're going to BRRRRR you can still do it with a VA Loan.....But utilize the one that's called a US Department of Veterans Affairs Loan.....It's more designed for BRRRRRs 

People just like to nit-pick over the silliest things.Your lease agreement should say, "Landlord and/or his Agent" so that you can designate others to do things on your behalf.

Hey BP World!I have found that many of my investors have been having issues with fraudulent private money lenders down here in Florida.With that being said, I was wondering what types of precautions can be taken when ...

You can design the portfolio that best suits your expertise, network and goals.

If it seems an investment falls into a gray area, the conservative approach is to avoid that.

The seller has provided me with a 2013 appraisal that is quite thorough and has many comps and valuation approaches, but obviously is 5 years old.He also told me that they have a recent appraisal that was done and when I asked to see it, all I received was a couple of sentences that used the income valuation approach to come to the same price he originally offered.My main question is what value does the income valuation approach have to a property that could potentially be vacant in 3 years?

You could value this 3 different ways:1) Income approach2) Comps3) Replacement valueIn the income approach we generally look at lot rents only as I indicated above. 

We are analyzing a purchase near Vista and our partner on this effort looked up the following:1. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/14292365: Small studio rental in same area; historic converted carriage / barn = $100/night with 14 nights booked so far in May = $1400 for month2. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9351161: 2bd/1ba guesthouse same area; non-historic and bland = ~$95/night with 24 nights booked so far in May = $2280 for month3. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/17674810: 1bd/1ba same area; non-historic but well designed = ~$90/night with 19 nights booked so far in June = $1710 for monthYou probably would want to do more similar analysis on Vista before proceeding with the STR route.