We all have plenty of horror stories about tenants, and this isn't really one of them.

First step - change the locks and secure the propertyThat said - I typically use semigloss everywhere - looks plenty good for a rental and seems to clean the easiest. 

Tons of development going on so there is plenty of opportunity especially in the new construction space.

@Sam BurchyettThere is plenty of inventory to hit your goal and if there isn't, thats a good thing because more demand with less supply.

There are plenty of hard money and DSCR options that lend in rural areas, but the LTVs are restricted. 

The bank/HML/etc doesn't care who is personally guaranteeing it, as long as there's plenty of room to cover that difference.

You can also do a 12 month bank statement program or if you have plenty of assets, an asset depletion program may work. 

With housing in short supply, there are apparently plenty of people willing to wire thousands of dollars to someone they have never met, without any evidence that the person they are wiring the money to has access to or any association with the property.These types of scams are very common in the area, and I am wondering what "best practices" people use to avoid having their properties used by a third party to scam a prospective tenant.I am planning to add a watermark to my listing photos with an email address.

BP has plenty of money that they could easily pay for blogging if they wanted to, but that creates a content and conflict of interest problem - is the blog post content worthwhile or is it just a paid advertisement?

Don't get me wrong; there are plenty of issues/problems/quirks that old houses have that new houses don't, and an old house can obviously have hidden problems and big repair/maintenance bills too--which is why thorough due diligence is fundamental to REI...but, the point is: a brand new house is not a foolproof solution to repairs/maintenance headaches (and in some cases, a brand new house can be a much bigger gamble than an older house).This is a particularly important lesson for inexperienced investors, who tend to be the most prone to "shiny object syndrome" (the tendency to let nice aesthetics distract from real, underlying issues).