Do you already have the capital to begin investing, have a job you enjoy, and only seek the knowledge to get started on your investment journey? 

Many things can avoid legal advice but whenever I have a doubt I will seek legal advise. 

1 -No...I don't seek leads2 - Yes...reverse engineering.3 - I designed my own set of software (it started out as just an Excel form, and grew...) based on how I invest. 

For example, if you provide free laundry, prepare for your tenant to do some laundry parties or start a laundry business out of the house.Property managers may also not have the best treatment of the property since they understand the property would be in a lower value area, so I'd prepare for some excuses such as damage/poor screening not being their fault because the tenant pool is not good enough.That being said, you can still make a lot of money in lower value areas.

Considering all advice, my gut's telling me to rewire, but I will definitely be speaking again with this electrician about the details and will be seeking 1-2 more opinions.Thanks all!

Are you seeking status?

If the numbers you laid out are accurate I would suggest seeking an investment that throws off enough cash flow to also pay for your parents to stay put in their current rental.Having said that, It feels like you have every excuse *to take action but are getting caught up in a lot of what-ifs.

That's called LAZY marketing.You need to market the rental extensively through:- Craigslist- Facebook Marketplace- asking existing tenants for referrals- Zillow- seeking out Property Managers managing other properties in the area (they might get calls from tenant prospects but they don't have any vacancies)- put multiple signs (if allowed by your city) in busy intersections- Apartments.com- Rentalhouses.com- Rent.com- same thing with PM, call other landlords in the area- GoSection8.com (once you get your units section 8 qualified)If after doing the above, you're getting hundreds of tenant prospects and you're still not getting good tenants, then it could be a problem with your criteria being too strict (or too much - like getting 2XSD) or it could be the property/location being not so desirable (like the bar you mentioned).

I've been habitually absorbing information on real estate investing for almost a year now; I listen to Bigger Pockets, Active Duty Passive Income, Rod Khleif, audiobooks, and have read several books to gain some insight on how to make deals work.After extensive research into population growth, unemployment rates, median home prices, crime rates, property and income taxes, average insurance rates, vacancy rates, and average rental income, I have narrowed down my search to the Jacksonville, FL area where I will seek out my first multi-family deal in 2020.I'm excited to join these forums and become more active, there's always so much to learn from this great network of people.

I am seeking to purchase my 1st short-term vacation rental on the beach and I would truly appreciate any guidance/opinions the BiggerPockets community would be willing to share.I am interested in starting somewhat small, financially; I know "small" is relative to the location.