I have also thought about buying a Multi Family Home within my college town of West Lafayette and then renting it out while I live in it for the next couple of years while I am at school and I was wondering what your opinions of this would be?

In other words you receive a 30% tax credit on the solar system as well as a 30% tax credit at the least on the roof that is under the solar system (full roof 30% depends on the advice of your CPA).Couple that with the roof now becoming a producing asset and offsetting the utility bill instead of a liability and the increase in appraised home value assuming the solar system is not leased then going solar makes a lot of sense at the same time as replacing/repairing a roof.

My initial thought is vinyl for a rental, but if I'm flipping it in a couple years, would it pay to go the hardwood route?

I will definitely work on freeing up the next couple weeks.

Just bought my first rental property a couple months ago but I have owned my primary home and worked here for 5 years.

It was a shorter term situation (couple years) and they made lifelong friends in the process.

Wondering if anyone else has had luck.ITs getting tough, but we have found a couple in Oak Cliff. 

Hey-- I have spent a lot of time in Miami growing up and have also done a fair of amount of scouting for AirBNBs in the area.I feel Miami can be a good market, but you'll face a couple of issues:1) HOAs will usually not allow this in any building2) To do it legally, at least on the beach, you will likely need to buy in a Condo Hotel. 

If it's a long term buy and hold it's not a huge deal as long as it produces enough cash flow to be worth it.I would pay a couple hundred dollars for a structural engineering report and take a reputable mason to evaluate it as well. 

Here are a couple ideas for you:comercial properties usually need 25% down and 6 month reserve funds.