If you day-trade or read the tea leaves for hot stock tips or play the ponies or simply put your money in index funds, do any of these things occupy your interest like real estate?

If a toilet runs at full pressure, the tenant is going to call you sooner than later from the sheer racket it's making.If you are purely looking for leaks, you will spend significant sums of money to save yourself very little money in the long run. 

In my opinion STR and small hotels are where the money is made in Spain. 

Do I need to show that money (25%) in my business account for two months?

@Corey SchneiderWe fund with a combination of Hard Money and Private Money. 

I was just setting money aside.

Who pays the earnest money to the title company?

If I was your friend, I would point to the fact that the landlord will not explain what is owed or why and that you can't just pay money that nobody can explain clearly how its owed.

You don’t need to do a 1031 because you’re going to lose money on the sale. 

I find the supplies usually get used and, to me, that's money well spent if my guest is keeping the property clean.