@Caleb Brown I like your idea about buying as many properties as possible while we're young.

Also you seem to not have a team in place, BAD idea.

At that time, my friend encouraged me to get into real estate with the idea of creating passive income and wealth in future (via appreciation).

House gets foreclosed on when a borrower is not paying its debt obligations - typically its mortgage.buying foreclosures is not for the faint of heart as you have no idea of the interior of these properties lastly while it can be beneficial also realize if there are a lot in an area those homes are the new comps when trying to sell so it lowers home values in an area 

Another idea that we have been exploring is using the cash value of whole life insurance funds for emergencies. 

Is the IRS/your CPA cool with the idea?

In trying to be more helpful, I came up with two additional ideas:1.

Great community to bounce ideas off of as I build my knowledge base.  

Am wanting to add a STR to my portfolio and thought having one near where I live was a better idea than investing out of state.

Or any ideas of where I might be able to sell this unit would be super helpful.