And, as famously said in some book "a dollar saved is better than a dollar earned".  

A STR that earns $70,000 a year and will probably never see that customer again is a completely different story.You don't control the weather.

The reason for the sale was prices had peaked, but the main reason was the net yield (cap rate) was lower than what I could get in financial markets.

In my area I actually advise against A class SFH as their are so few people who earn enough to pay premium rents , defined locally as excess of $2000 per mo… and those who do earn that much will much rather own a house.

Yeah I unfortunately think I bought at the peak of the market.

Mortgage payment is $1,000 on each house, so you're essentially earning $500 per house or $2,000 a month.

The point of an entity is usually asset protection.2) If you set up the Corporation and attempt to buy the property inside of the corporation, rather than your personal name, you will lose access to conventional financing options, likely ending up with higher interest rate debt that will not amortize over 30 years. 3) If you earn less than $150K per year, the losses on the property can offset your income, if you meet certain criteria.

The investor then waits for completion and tenant selection prior to earning any income.

I would look to get the highest paid work from home job possible to allow you to keep flexibility but start earning income.

It would be based on the investor putting a property into the business as his equity, and the renovator earning his sweat equity on the back end.