I do have to agree with @Chris Seveney that this forum topic is one of the lower trafficked forums, which may make the split not as effective, and instead of breaking them up into their own individual topics it may be more appropriate to dissolve the topic entirely and keep the discussions for Tax Liens and Mortgage Notes under the Real Estate Private Lending Forum.I will leave the topics alone for now, monitor the activity over the next few weeks to see if there is an increased demand in these topics, and keep you informed if there is an update to the topic(s)!

I'm not sure what the renovation cost would be to set this up for a rental.

I have never purchased a home before but in the town I would potentially move to renting makes little sense do to the cost of housing prices.

If the new tenant is gone in a year and you have two months before you get it turned back around (with additional repair costs), then that is a different story. 

My thought process was to get my feet wet on a lower cost city property (literally within 5-10 minutes of the ‘nicer’ neighborhoods).

How do you underwrite an unknown cost?  

I do not want to go into another vacation market but rather a metro area with a more diversified economy again just to get into a different type of asset.That being said I do want to continue to short term rent the next few properties we get at least in the first few years of ownership in order to increase cash flow to combat these higher prices and carrying costs before potentially converting to more passive long terms down the line.Therefore I am looking for markets that 1) have a decent draw of visitors year round 2) have regulations that allow strs in some parts of the city 3) Are in growing cities in the west or south.Below is a list of markets I have identified as potential places to look and I was hoping to get some insight from either other investors doing the same thing or agents/investors in any of these markets on whether this is potentially a good market to explore or not.1) Salt Lake City (this is right at the top of my list due to its proximity to ski resorts, expanding of the airport and long term strategic business planning of the area but I have very little knowledge of this market)2) Denver 3) Phoenix (used to live in AZ and like the fact that the state of AZ seems to look favorable on strs)4) Tucson (see above but lower home prices/potentially less appreciation)5) San Diego/LA (these are attractive because of their proximity to my home in Irvine)6) San Antonio (love that it is very close to the booming Austin and feel that this is a market that could see some real growth in the future)7) Tampa/St Pete (I have always been very interested in this market for both short term and long term rentals)8) Raleigh (have invested in Charlotte and love NC but again very little knowledge on this area)Any insights or advice on any of this would be greatly appreciated.

The 4 bed vs 3+den designation won't have any effect on the home's value, or the rental income.

These are the few numbers I have (purely based on first conversation) Her operating costs are about $900-$1000/month. about $450 for the county to come inspect once a month, costs of upkeep, meter reading, invoicing etc. 

I find that they actually offer more than some other programs at a fraction of the cost.