I have to say, it seems to be holding water. ;)

I already have a general game plan set up but am trying to explore all of my opportunities before committing to any specific strategy.

If you are looking for some good meetups I would say NCREIA has some pretty good ones but there are also smaller meetups like the TREIA meetups they typically have every Wednesday, one of my good friends hold a deal exchange every two weeks on thursday.

I mostly do long term rental holds in VA and NC.

I think the biggest question these days is how long are you planning to hold this?

All of the best communities have resort amenities like guard gated entrances, clublhouses with gyms, restaurants, game rooms, movie theaters, volleyball, lazy rivers, tiki bars etc.

@Steven Rago legally, whoever shows the property has to be a licensed agent.You can try to play games with that and have a handman allow "access", but it's a BIG risk.So that leaves agents & PMCs.You have two choices with agents:1) Pay per showing: since any agent can show a property, find the cheapest.2) Pay Listing Fee: typically 1 month of rent to put in MLS and place a lockbox so any/all agents can show.We do NOT recommend allowing agents to screen applicants - it's a conflict of interest!

I’m very close to entering the STR market and I may very well be taking a major risk and loss being too late to game but i did decide to do what you recommended (before seeing this post).

If they qualify and submit a holding deposit and/or sign a lease within a certain amount of time (a week usually) and I haven't run the checks on the other applicants, I return their money.   

I build duplexes for long term holds.