@Sarah BuchananI do not want to start a cash flow versus appreciation debate (there are already enough of those) so I will not refer to appreciation but value add.I purchase RE in hopes to have a near term >100% ROI due to value add. 

It's better to have a separate system.

Houston Real Estate Highlights for December and Full-Year 2018 Despite uncertainties amid Houston’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Harvey, 2018 proved to be a record year for Houston home sales with 82,177 single-family homes sold versus 79,143 in 2017, the last record-setting year.

You can invest with Real Estate Investment Company versus doing it yourself. 

In terms of being active versus passive, it is really up to you to decide how much time you can devote to real estate investing. 

Like anything in life- some guests are fantastic people and renew my faith in the STR system as well as humanity, some seem like they are from another planet and have insane expectations.

.), fencing and security systems, and numerous other factors. 

They have systems in place to handle problems quickly before they snowball and run up the costs.

I'd say that over 60% of the time, the "automated underwriting system" (AUS) only calls for one year of tax returns for self employed persons.

We can also buy a house brand 4/2 2000 sq ft from builder for $700 or $150k versus $3000 a month here in DFW or California lite as I call it!