Whenever you are buying a property out of state you should do a few things to ensure it's as smooth as possible.Don't buy in the roughest neighborhood in the urban core.

In summary, the deal has to make good economic sense first, then see how to be the most tax efficient.

Yes many flippers try to do the work themselves thinking they can get it done cheaper and because they can't find professional, reliable and appropriately priced contractors that know what they are doing and get it done efficiently.

With a golf course, that seems kinda hard to do outside the active season.The two might go together well, if they can efficiently share some resources (ie, kitchen and staff).

Get it in writing that the current owner will be responsible for ensuring the person is moved out.

Its not LA or NYC where an efficiency apartment can be rented out for $1500/month.

I have a dilemma here if the property is good, how can I ensure they won't steal the deal from my behind my back by giving me negative feedback and buying it for themselves?

By "defense", it means your cash flow ensures that you get to keep the house (paying expenses/mortgage) while making a little extra cash.

@Alex FreeloveI don't think @Duc Ong is giving you tax advice, the ratio (ROE) that he mentions has to do with how efficiently you are using your equity (tax implications aside).

You're thinking long term, which is great, but that means all the long term CapEx items are going to catch up with you...one more reason to limit your time with SFR and aggressively move to MFR where you can realize efficiencies of scale. $150-200/unit/month is probably more attainable.