The first one is a 3 bedroom 1 bath house on 1.67 acres.

They claim to have owned four rental properties and a large house which they sold before coming here.

The house will be used as a short term rental.   

For example, I would need a new loan from a bank for the remaining $550,000 after the 4 years or would refinance the house for the $550,000, correct? 

An example problem statement that I may have stated (and built the software for) in 2003, when I started investing full time: Build a tool for lead generation that collects county records from the county recorder's office (and property card data), finds the recent first mortgage defaults  from trustees websites or public filings for properties that are between 1000 and 1700 square feet, in a neighborhood of 90% like-kind properties with greater than 20 parcels, houses built after 1978, that can cash flow at current rates when fully leveraged. 

Anything could go wrong with a house in that price range.

A little background, I own about 9.4 acres in Hermitage, PA where I house hacked the property.

That way we would never allow our housing and banking system to teeter on the precipice of complete failure, because, well, they are licensed and professional and the govt is looking out for the consumer, right? 

Additionally, my renovations are full guts anymore, which helps limit some competition and allows me to push the ARVs relative to other houses for sale in the neighborhoods.Admittedly, this doesn't necessarily create substantially more deal flow.  

(i.e. have RE prices increased in the area, is there room for additional appreciation, how is the STR and LT rental market, any new housing or commercial developments?