Your situation depends on your involvement, your entity selection, and lots of other factors that preclude an informed opinion.3) You didn't ask, but I offer that you should not take or act on any legal, regulatory, or financial advice on a free forum and always seek a professional opinion or two.  

She was paying the rent so we did not care when she moved in.

Always happy and partner with other investors so free to PM me.Regarding the deal you mentioned, I would be really careful about the tenant and neighborhood quality.

Would love to connect with folks who know and care about the area.

There are NO certifications required of an animal at all,  the only verification you can do apparently is to the tenant's need, from the provider who cares for the tenant.  

You can win with either strategy (Buy near market and let it appreciate while the tenant pays down the principal and you get the tax advantages, or BRRRR somewhere with easier inventory selection), but in a seller's market to get a property and the discount you want it for you're basically going to have to steal it from somebody.In that case, you're going to need a motivated seller.

Finally made the jump and just bought our first vacation rental.My longtime girlfriend and I emptied out the account and put 60k down on an amazing 300k vacation rental near Bass Lake and Yosemite National Park.By conservative estimates, it should cash flow over $1,000 a month after ALL expenses.As I am still learning on the fly here, I am most interested in the next steps in acquiring the next property (and the next, and the next).The house should appreciate some throughout the year, and it is nearly turnkey as it was wonderfully taken care of by a family for 40 years, so we won't be adding too much value with remodeling.My main question to the BP community is "What's the best options to finance our next purchase of a rental property?".

For property type, select "Multi-Unit Residential" from the drop down list. 

If it was a $1800 piece of equipment, I may be more careful, but what good Is a tool I don't have access to when I need it? 

Again - thanks so much for the information and mostly the clarification on something I will need to take care of soon on a few properties!