This is a key strategy to growing your portfolio at a reasonably fast pace.

And we always make sure that guests provide some background info on themselves, their fellow guests and their reason for visiting; if they don't provide this info when booking, we prompt them for it.

I'm looking for something reasonably priced in a good neighborhood that I will be able to get rented quick, and I was wondering if any of you guys had some suggested areas to invest in.

There is nothing you can put in your spreadsheet to account for that in any reasonably accurate way.There's a reason the locals aren't all over this deal, unless you are unusually lucky.

@Jonathan Rosado, as for "the property will go under one of our names not both", conventional wisdom suggests that it should be in the name of the person who earns the most, for tax deductibility reasons.

He asked for 4% commission but charged us over 6% for no reason among other things. 

We have indentified management as a huge opportunity and a reason for its lower than market-rate valuation.

In fact, one of the main reasons I STARTED investing in real estate was control.

We talked about training tenants and keeping them accountable for small repairs on things they break (generally under $150 and things that can reasonably be shown they caused to break, but generally not plumbing and electrical).

i see two options here 1) you can go back to dad and break it down as hey i cant close on the house until it's vacant and see if he can help in getting them out, 2) offer some moving expense if the lot is really that desirable to you I know not what you want to hear as the investor but it has worked on numerous occasions, 3) you will have to take it to the courts as final resolution so the sheriff can remove them.