If you have a property under contract at a great price, and a competitive bid scenario between multiple investors may be the right course of action, consult with a reputable real estate auction company.The auction company should be able to tell you pretty quick whether your deal is as good as you think it is.

Right off the bat, there are foundation/framing issues that need to be addressed. 

With Airbnb, I see right away that the request is coming from say Denver. 

I only invest in performing notes with a minimum of 70% LTV or lower preferably in case things go south…non-performing notes may be more lucrative but for me I like boring right now.  

Welcome to the BP family @Edward Zachary Samperio , you came to the right place to learn all about real estate investing!

And right now, the trend is our friend….

Can't afford to do that right now. :(  

Essentially I just want to remotely monitor the main water meter to detect when I have a leak in the building (so that I can fix it right away) and not have to find out on my bill at the end of the month.

I will need to self manage through VRBO/Airbnb in order to help classify the income as active income so that I might be able to right off the accelerated depreciation against W-2 income.- I have about 150K available for a down payment, any suggestions on the type of property to target (cabin, condo) if the goal is to be around cash flow even?

You can accept a partial payment, but if you do, you should send a Reservation of Rights, which basically says the date and the amount of the payment, but still allows you to move forward with an eviction if not paid in full.