I get a new tenant at a LOWER rent, ALWAYS late, and then ... the septic tank GOES TO HELL

Lots of valuable insight on this thread already..Since you are an agent, you are in a good spot to source, close on, or sell potential BRRRR deals. 

Not including closing costs. 

What's left is simply $ to close (HML easily solves that) getting the vendors to do the "simple stuff" (pick your platform; Angie, Neighborly etc etc) and than to sell it (more agents than one can count happy to list). 

All residents but the smokers have lost use of their balconies and keep windows closed now.

Then when you see some tractions or close some deals, you can reinvest in your website.

There's a lot of suckers who attend these sales, particularly for the lower priced properties and that's precisely who you don't want to be bidding against.

Buy a 2-4 unit, close to home.

I would remove debt to a 7-10 year time frame and lower fixed costs, at minimum.

Most users of VRBO have one single 5-star review, thus our threshold is lower.