I live in Boston, a very competitive housing market, and it is a standard for real estate agencies to charge a 1 month's brokerage fee when you sign a lease for an apartment through them.

And now I want to sell it, and discovered the square footage listed with the county is half what it actually is.  

Assuming we close without incident, investors will get an 80% ROI over two years. 80% is not a typo.80% roi over 5 years (as per original plan) equates to 12.5% annual return, which is quite standard.

On the other hand we've discovered two old fireplaces hidden in the walls doing this. 

They are so very needed and can look just like stick-built with the front-end porches, especially, and are now built to general housing standards. 

Even with buying my first home i'm discovering mistakes I've made that I couldn't account for from podcasts and youtube videos.

The keys that I’ve discovered up north is to build your relationships with realtors and people in the trades to get the best beat on what’s for sale off market, and to keep an open mind out for alternative uses for buildings maybe no one else wants that you can purchase for a discount and then repurpose easily to fit your needs.

It was extra difficult this year due to moving, selling houses, buying houses, starting the STRs, lots of remodel expenses (standard vs Cap) Gawd what a pain.

That's why we have zoning laws, building permits, architectural standards, even eminent domain when the government can take possession of private property.

My preference would be to use vinyl since this is a standard rental, but I would consider hardie plank if folks feel that would do a superior job at preventing the racoons from clawing their way back in.