@Mary Eubanks it has shrunk every year since I started.

You even customize your cleaning checklists, request photos and notes, and be notified at the start and end of the job. 

The tenant contacts me that Sunday and asked about prorating being that it was the middle of the month or starting the lease in June (???)

It could very well start happening at any time.

This seems bogus but wanted to see if others had similar thoughts:https://boundlessestates.com/new-law-starting-july-1st-landl...

He just liked to come in have coffee and chat all day :) He did not need the money since his retirement pay was based on # 1 senority at SFO on the 747..

For income reasons, you can qualify with a non contingent offer letter (salary position) before you start working.  

All this summer every booking has been last minute, within a week or so of the stay, so it's obvious to me people are still just sitting on the sidelines looking for the best deals since there's so much supply out there.I think it will start thinning out over the next few years - I've seen a few places in my own community that I know were STRs that have been sold as owner-occupied (hard to make a 4/3 STR work down here when you're paying $450k or more), so as that starts to happen more and the building pushes even further out into the hinterlands I have hope for the future.

Rentals create cash flow, and that's what we want as real estate investors, but you need cash on hand for unforeseen circumstances.The AC needs to be replaced, that's $7K to $10K or more depending on the size of the house and if you have one rental, it will eat all your cash flow, same to replace a roof, etc, or if tenant trash the home, you need money to fix it again.To me personally a nice rental portfolio that is healthy consists about 10 units, so if you have an issue with a house the portfolio can cover the repairs and still healthy, but when starting you need to have cash on hand just in caseYes, there are multiple strategies you can use to hack your way to buy your first rental with minimum cash, but I would start wholesaling or fix and flip a few deals to create that cash as fast as possible

It's the best way to start and keep relationships.