Zillow promotes on all the other sites: Trulia, HotPads etc.

That was my concern about buying a move-in ready house right now - I don't want to be under water in 4-5 years if I take a promotion elsewhere.e) How do you get approved for a loan that would include a budget for rehab for a flip?

I want my investments to be in an area with a diverse job economy, population growth, jobs not based on tourism but in public and private sector, strong renting population and a reasonable point of purchase compared to what my tenant will be paying in rent.  

Be wary of companies selling them and only promoting the positives.

And those sizes sound amazing;  A realtor here with a lot of experience running STR's promotes small over large for some of the same reasons... margins seem to be not so far apart between small and large, easier to rent smaller size, and the larger ones sometimes end up with large parties, a lot of cleaning and more wear and tear.Trying to decide between what I know (long term) and STR's for an upcoming investment.  

I would not be surprised if airbnb penalized hosts who are also on vrbo while vrbo promotes those who are also on airbnb.I have no proof of the above, and my experience is too small to conclude that way, but one thing is certain: they have all the data (through hosts calendars, behavior, guests demography, cookies, re-targeting ads, and more) to somehow fight their competition, if they decide to.Thoughts?

I've seen some companies promote questionable as well as downright illegal strategies in an effort to overstate the value and usefulness of their products and attract unwitting customers.

If you buy real estate, to have a more diverse portfolio you would also hold stocks and hopefully stocks that are not industry related like building supplies.But that doesn't eliminate the economy risk.

Is the employer base diverse or concentrated in one employer or industry?

With the city counsel and  our redevelopment committees are looking to promote and invest to help on the micro brew end I feel like I might have failed a bit here.