I prefer buying during this time of year as the prices are usually lower and the competition is taking a nap because they generally do not want to move in the winter. :)Also, keep in mind that rent rates are also generally lower in the "winter" months so you may not get peak rent from your current home. 

Passive Activity Loss RulesIf you are a real estate investor that doesn’t qualify for REPS status (discussed in #5 below), understanding the Passive Activity Loss rules is crucial.

Hi,I'm Lacey Rathsack, a real estate agent based in Roseburg, Oregon.

Please recommend a SAFE way to invest cash ( ~20k) for a short period of time, about 6 months. 

search for posts from Joel Owens, he's the retail NNN expert.2027 is just a short time away, what will you do if they do not renew?

I have 80k to use for real estate investing.

Rates are being compressed and have been for some time, we see a lot of clients going airbnb to long term furnished/unfurnished.

Personally, I wouldn't totally disagree, but it is very much in the eyes of the beholder what "nice place to live" means.Based on your post, I would assume you are getting requests because you are a new landlord (maybe the old one was not a kind person, so tenants chose not to make any requests) and that you are asking them to pay more rent for a unit that is likely in worse condition than when they moved in.So now, you can either tell them no, or you can accommodate and potentially open up pandoras box of setting expectations that you will cater to all requests all the time, or as noted, you can remove yourself from the equation and hire a PM to handle the requests.  

Expect to spend $10-$20k in FC and of course all the taxes and insurance on the home during this time.

Deciding what to invest in can definitely be overlwhelming since there's so many roads for real estate.