This is known in the BP community as 'house hacking', and is a way to essentially live for free while renters pay your mortgage and more.  

The basics are essential.

What i mean here is to know the essentials such as  where the water shutoff is, where the electric shut off is, where water pumps are and what kind of mechanics you have inside the building.Take note of the model numbers, year of manufacturer of certain vital equipment such as HVAC, water heaters and so on.

The site should have, among other things; information about the home, the neighborhood (schools, shopping, etc), interactive virtual tours (where you can actually navigate through the property similar to google street view, not just the traditional "virtual tours" which are essentially glorified slideshows with background music/narration), video of a drone aerial property survey, CMA data and pricing justification, links to any press on the property, and a way to easily/discreetly inquire about the property or schedule a private viewing.Something else that I find is almost always advantageous is using the avenues provided by the neighborhood you are in to help sell the home.  

If I need to sell, I'll incur the typical closing costs which would essentially make the deal a loss even if I could sell for the what I paid.  

Your financial risk is essentially the same but you now how 5 mortgages totally $400k and $500k in properties.

 :) I can't really do research on vacation rentals in my area, because there essentially aren't any: forced to make sone assumptions there.I will reach out to my coorporate short term relocation HR people and see what thier client's needs are.I hate dishwashers, but last time my wife looked for a one week rental, that was a requirement.Maybe we are just more lazy out in the midwest.

Hey Mark Nolan,  thanks for the reply and yeah the podcasts are an essential part of my day.

Since the buyer is essentially giving $50K to the seller via traditional financing, do we prorate the $200K gain by recognizing 25% of the gain at the time of sale ($50K/$200K = 25%) which will be spread out over the life of the loan?

He has found a place that will do 75% of purchase price, but this is essentially useless to him.