As you start closing deals, you will need to reinvest your profits into mailing lists and other scalable activities to grow your business.

The last few STR deals I closed where my client used a second home loan, they ended up putting down 20-25%, preferring to have more equity in the property versus giving away thousands in fees to the lender. 

When I buy an occupied property, I introduce myself to the tenants on the day of closing; then, I inspect every unit within one week.

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

Let’s be real: Not every deal is going to close. 

This is not even close to the documents required for a properly drafted loan.

Since I have a fixed-rate mortgage, I understand this wouldn’t lower my monthly payment but would shorten the loan term by reducing the principal faster.

If I can park the 388k ($415-27k) for one year at CD rate of 4.5% and then est 300k (after paying cap gain/depr recap) at 3.0% (assume CD rates lower) that interest income of about 24 months net of ordinary income tax is about the same as my current mortgage.Trying to play devil's advocate and think why selling this year does not make sense. 

The longer term loans would have lowered your monthly payments and decreased the costs.As for rent, each year you need to look at rents in the area to decide how much you will be increasing the rent by. 

that we’ve learned in our 24 years, managing almost 700 doors across the Metro Detroit area, including almost 100 S8 leases:Class A Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, 3-5 years for positive cashflow, but you get highest relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% the more recent norm.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 680+ (roughly 5% probability of default), zero evictions in last 7 years.Class B Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, decent amount of relative rent & value appreciation.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, 5% should be applied only if proper research done to support.Tenant Pool: Majority will have FICO scores of 620-680 (around 10% probability of default), some blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 5 yearsClass C Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, high cashflow and at the lower end of relative rent & value appreciation.