You can pay a lot of a software... or you can do the following: - Assume you are handed $2.5M in cash in 10 years (pick your number). - Take a blank sheet of paper, and a pen/pencil. - Draw a big circle on the paper.

I'm also willing to contribute my time and skills if anyone is looking for an extra pair of hands -- just looking to learn from shadowing and practical experience. 

On the other hand, in the low season, we try to book 3+ months in advance since if you wait until the last minute, you will either book for a very low price, since all other hosts drop their prices then, or you will not book the home at all and have very low occupancy rates.There are two ways to do this on PriceLabs.

Also, in the right areas in Tampa it seems that a STR could be great, and my fiancé does have enough free time to cover the extra time-commitment a STR would require, that part wouldn’t bother us. 

. - Downtown location, near restaurants and a 3 min walk to train station- Only 2 off street parking spots, street is permit parking only but there is free parking down the street- Units have just been completely renovated- The city does not have any ordinances against short term rentalsThe biggest hurdles for me are: we're about to go into a slump/down season; potential parking issues; and if one of the other units were rented long term - dealing with the hassles related to that.

Feel free to reach out anytime if you want to discuss Bobby. 

I’ve had this itch to get into real estate for a long time, but everytime I start to dip my toes in I get the feeling that with prices/rates where there at it’s hard to justify pulling money from risk free 5.5% ?

@Collin H. has more data on how far he thinks revenues can drop, he has seen the volatility in the smokies and will know more first hand knowledge. 

This can free up capital to invest in more properties.

My downstairs tenant pays most of my mortgage while I live basically rent free.