I think the mountains (Summit, Eagle and Grand counties) are the best for STRs. 

Went for a grand slam instead of focusing on base hits.  

(Did it this century and did it without several hundred grand from dad) this has proven to be harder than expected.

Virtually every brokerage are Realtor Association members, which means their agents need to be as well.Even if you upgrade your license to a broker license so you can choose to drop Association dues....your MLS fees as a broker go up, you wont get the association discount, and youll need to drop a couple grand on E&O insurance. 

With all the foreclosures in MI, especially DT Grand Rapids that would be a stretch.

For instance if their house is $600,000 and you know that they still owe $90,000 on the mortgage, another $50,000 in taxes, it needs $150,000 in repairs, plus $16,000 in real estate fees, and a few grand to carry it for 4 to 6 month waiting for it to sale.

Electrican:  Grand Electric.

Grass is always greener...Grand Rapids is a fine market. 

%Down Down Mort Cash Flow CoC ROI 0.00% $0 $1,122.66 -$395.26 * 5.00% $7,650 $1,066.53 -$339.13 -53.2% 10.00% $15,300 $1,010.39 -$282.99 -22.2% 15.00% $22,950 $954.26 -$226.86 -11.9% 20.00% $30,600 $898.13 -$170.73 -6.7% 25.00% $38,250 $841.99 -$114.59 -3.6% 30.00% $45,900 $785.86 -$58.46 -1.5% 35.00% $53,550 $729.73 -$2.33 -0.1% 40.00% $61,200 $673.60 $53.80 1.1% 45.00% $68,850 $617.46 $109.94 1.9% 50.00% $76,500 $561.33 $166.07 2.6% 55.00% $84,150 $505.20 $222.20 3.2% 60.00% $91,800 $449.06 $278.34 3.6% 65.00% $99,450 $392.93 $334.47 4.0% 70.00% $107,100 $336.80 $390.60 4.4% 75.00% $114,750 $280.66 $446.74 4.7% 80.00% $122,400 $224.53 $502.87 4.9% 85.00% $130,050 $168.40 $559.00 5.2% 90.00% $137,700 $112.27 $615.13 5.4% 95.00% $145,350 $56.13 $671.27 5.5% 100.00% $153,000 $0.00 $727.40 5.7% Our economy has been humming with close to zero interest rate for too long that many of us have forgotten how things work on the flip side.

So really depends on what matters more, positioning for that big "Grand-slam" that requires patience, or going for the solid base-hit's here n now.