It might cost you a few dollars, but may be worth preventing a headache later.I was in a house just today that had what was most likely an unpermitted renovation done many years ago.

Hi Adam,I've always been a real estate guy but exposed my personal portfolio quite heavily to a regional bank ETF.I guess time will tell if I'll be a "Hero" or "Zero" lolCome on you Fed and reduce those rates 😁Real estate is and always will be my bread and butter tho.You can't beat the safety of a "brick and mortar" investment per se.My best advice would be if you are going to go down the path of investing in out of state rentals to have a growth mindset.Buying 1 or 2 isn't worth the risk or hassle and you might as well invest in your own back yard.10+ years in the industry and my most unsatisfied investors are the one's that build smaller portfolio's.If a property goes vacant and takes a few months to get it back performing, with a small portfolio that could impact cashflow of 30-50% for that year.Our investors that own 7,8 or 10+ properties, don't even feel it if 1 or 2 go vacant.Just my opinion and wishing you much success

Is it worth getting into real estate to meet our financial independence objective even though we're going to make it in 6 years anyway without the headaches of dealing with tenants?

Might be worth taking a look if you are planning to make a switch.

I understand it hurts to provide bad tenants money, however it will resolve the problem quicker and remove this frustration from your life, which I'm sure is worth a couple thousand dollars. 

If you did, your name is in public view when your entity is searched via the secretary of state website.

Is it worth pursuing moving the granite, having it cutdown to right size, and installed on the current cabinets? 

any websites out there that show historic home values per town over the last 10 years or so. trying to figure out if lake Worth Florida is back up to when market peaked in 2007.

But from a design perspective it looks much better and if you get more bookings from that fact alone, dressers are worth it! 

Bob makes a valid point, especially if your net worth is below half a million dollars; there might not be much worth protecting.