Have you been going to local meetups in your area to meet other people flipping locally?

Or, potentially, open it up to more people with smaller minimums.

There are people making money in RE across the country. 

People would often debate whether it was worth it to take depreciation, “Since you have to pay it back anyway…”.

I have done a good amount of research on section 8, and was wondering if people would recommend that.

Key is to make sure you are not cash poor.What I am seeing right now in some sub2 FB groups and a few posts here on BP is people who got close to 100% financing on properties, have a tenant in them but need a major repair and have no funds for that repair. 

You're investing there, paying taxes, making friends, bringing your friends and hoping to create a safe space for others to visit where the people on the other end of the line live full time. 

Companies and people/investor change overtime so it's not a bad idea to see if they're still the best fit for how you would like to see the properties managed.

So often you see a bland 'beach/ocean' themed STRs...I get it, people are booking your condo to go to the beach and relax, but you can have a fun, stand out theme that still revolves around the ocean, relaxation, etc.

These are not people that criminals want to mess with.The US Postal Inspection Service has brought down mafia families and terrorist plots.