These are the few numbers I have (purely based on first conversation) Her operating costs are about $900-$1000/month. about $450 for the county to come inspect once a month, costs of upkeep, meter reading, invoicing etc. 

Cashing-out the equity every 5 or 6 years on a refinance is TAX FREE., while cash flow is taxed.

Depreciation: For investment properties, you can depreciate the property over a set period, reducing your taxable income.5. 1031 Exchanges: This allows you to defer capital gains tax by reinvesting the proceeds from a sale into a similar property.Feel free to ask any questions or share your own experiences!

(Sales price minus selling costs minus purchase price.) plus maybe 10% in state taxes. 

The rationale being you are reducing your personal housing costs as the rented unit will be covering some of the costs. 

In both of these cities, four of the top five source cities are higher cost.

Especially for the cost.

I do not want to go into another vacation market but rather a metro area with a more diversified economy again just to get into a different type of asset.That being said I do want to continue to short term rent the next few properties we get at least in the first few years of ownership in order to increase cash flow to combat these higher prices and carrying costs before potentially converting to more passive long terms down the line.Therefore I am looking for markets that 1) have a decent draw of visitors year round 2) have regulations that allow strs in some parts of the city 3) Are in growing cities in the west or south.Below is a list of markets I have identified as potential places to look and I was hoping to get some insight from either other investors doing the same thing or agents/investors in any of these markets on whether this is potentially a good market to explore or not.1) Salt Lake City (this is right at the top of my list due to its proximity to ski resorts, expanding of the airport and long term strategic business planning of the area but I have very little knowledge of this market)2) Denver 3) Phoenix (used to live in AZ and like the fact that the state of AZ seems to look favorable on strs)4) Tucson (see above but lower home prices/potentially less appreciation)5) San Diego/LA (these are attractive because of their proximity to my home in Irvine)6) San Antonio (love that it is very close to the booming Austin and feel that this is a market that could see some real growth in the future)7) Tampa/St Pete (I have always been very interested in this market for both short term and long term rentals)8) Raleigh (have invested in Charlotte and love NC but again very little knowledge on this area)Any insights or advice on any of this would be greatly appreciated.

If the new tenant is gone in a year and you have two months before you get it turned back around (with additional repair costs), then that is a different story. 

But it's costly, currently I am in the process of setting up ReiReply Power Dialer.