BUT reimburses the wholesaler for the original sale from the initial purchase of the property. 

@Teyvian Copeland Your best bet starting out would be to find a local real estate investors group.

Most (if not all) will give you a free consultation, which is basically a phone call to see if there's some synergy, if there's an opportunity to work together, and some initial, high-level guidance. 

I thought this would most likely my best bet for rapid growth.My strategy is fairly similar to what you did, and I really believe a 3 or 4 plex would make things even better, but good deals on those are really tough to find in my area.

We did one..we bought the home next door & initially we got $820/mo in a 70's era SFH in very very tired shape.When they moved after 5 years we rehabbed it for $18k & got $1400/mo & that was 6 years ago.We did bump the rents over 2 more tenants (now $1650/mo) but the current tenants do all the maintenance.When the 20 yr old HW tank burst at the seams they shut everything of, cleaned up the mess.

Given that this is the first of what I hope is at least a handful of properties in the Chattanooga area, my initial thought is to furnish it, use it while I am there, and vacation rental it when I am not. 

That is a pretty safe bet.  

I think Steve Ferguson and mostly Reliable is your best bet so far.  

Airbnb is relatively hot around us and we are located very close to two places that host classes/seminars/etc.Any initial gut thoughts?

Convincing her that it is not the same as going to the casino and betting on slots had been a challenge.