There are also online portals from many property management softwares that allow people to pay online. 

The ones that sell the fastest are the ones you want to pay attention to.

With a PM in place you will have to pay them their cut and to go back to the second part if you end up buying in a lower class area you will be getting a lot of turn around it’s just the way it is.

As the seller I would pay for the energy audit, do the analysis on the work to be done (cost vs savings) and then market the home with a prepackaged improvement contract that would meet lender guidelines (solar, EE windows, etc). 45 day close to allow for enough time to do loan and obtain permits, occupancy COE+2. 

The caveat with FL is that the tax laws will consider you a STR for paying transient occupancy tax if the occupancy (I believe ) is less than 6 months.

Get bids for what the renovation will cost and determine how you will pay for it if you decide to move forward.Additional questions to consider:  do you know what your unit will rent for?

I think you have to pay 100$ for reports for other municipalities. 

I'm a heavy advocate of boutique hotels being the next focus of experienced STR operators.

He talks about many things like precious metals but focus on what a real asset is. 

Ultimately I do not want to be over leveraged, stuck paying a high mortgage for extended time, or live in a home that needs work I can’t fund what are your thoughts and recommendations for how I should structure my first purchase?