The average starting salary of software engineer is $80,000 and up in Bay Area and I felt confident that the stock I will invest in could at least double after a few years.

If we let the house sit vacant for the rest of the year, can we still claim it as an investment property and deduct our closing costs, depreciation, travel to close the deal, etc?

On our last flip I used a company based out of CLE and they beat out best local columbus bis by $400.00 with a travel fee. 

My hunch is that once the full on recession hits, discretionary travel will subside, leading to an oversupply of short term rentals, diving the price. 

In our planning we have came across many questions that none us were able to answer with much confidence.

Might be a slightly different story for me because I believe I have a ton of built in equity, and I'm confident I can pay the mortgage even if things get worse.

probably bit too far but it is probably prudent to be safe & cautiousThere were 15,000 people A DAY arriving from China into the ports of L.A, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver and traveling all over the country since over a year ago.

You are free to travel for many reasons including errands.

I am listing my townhome as a shorter (medium)-term fully furnished rental (30+ days required but less than 1 year, not Airbnb) and am planning to appeal to travel nurses, interns, and maybe those who just need some temporary furnished housing for a few months. 

I've read that these "rules" don't apply on pretty much every Denver post made in the past 4 years, but it builds confidence to hear it again from an experienced local on a project within my future realm of possibility.