I would invest in ugly houses that need lots of rehab work to build the equity and refi spreads needed to offset the work and preserve most/all of my initial capital.

Expenses for initial repairs before renting are usually capitalized and depreciated.

There are plenty of short term rehab loans available that will help with the initial purchase, give you rehab money, and don't have any type of prepayment penalties.

They analyze components such as cash flow, principal paydown, appreciation (both home and renovation), initial equity, depreciation, and interest deductions for tax savings, giving you a clear picture of individual gains and ROI over 30 years.

And we rarely need to use them.Tenants sign and initial each page of the condition report at signing, we quickly go through the property and let them take as long as they want.Ideally at move out they would sign the condition report, but this is nor normally done. 

I understand not buying more up there, but your initial investment there will turn out well.You can check out the BiggerPockets video podcast and leave a comment if you have questions. 

I would focus on "Ugly inventory" but would pass an appraisal and not be "Subject to" so that I can renovate and refinance on the ARV in as little as 6 months to pull out my initial capital and enough to put down on the next REI.On the flip side Indiana and Ohio would also offer a sale price to cash flow ratio since you can still find a great deal in both states.  

One challenge about short term rentals is that they are not always booked and initially getting those bookings to a minute, people were more hesitant since we didn't have the super host and premier rating.

And a revocable trust which again no annual cost just initial set up.

The main reason is that it is not initially set up for a Real Estate business like other “real estate-specific” accounting software.