I think we are headed to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for our first home.

Maybe if we did it, we might have made a bit more money, but we were happy with the outcome on our first flip.

Those are good hacks to get better options than what you might get here, looking in a particular area.You have the right idea though, you want to give some sweat equity first or gopher skills.

This is going to be my first STR learning experience if I eventually decide to kick start this journey, instead of just doing the buy and hold LTR which has less tax benefits. 

I write this as a career RE investor for 2 reasons: 1) Inexperienced investors might find a tidbit or two, and 2) that experienced investors might point me toward what is next for me.I bought my first rental property when I was 18.

If you want the funds to be separate then you should create a separate LLC to not co-mingle funds.If you are simply looking to not pay your broker a split on the commissions then you should talk to them first to see how they want you to set it up outside of the umbrella of their brokerage (if that is even allowed in IL).

Current Loan Balance: 100,952Interest rate: 3.75Mortgage payment + insurance/taxes: $1066Rent: $1500/monthEstimated current value: 227k Current cashflow: $369/ month, I also have a first american home warranty on it $68/month so after everything I net about $300/ month. 

I'm going to be doing my first Airbnb in Dayton, Ohio this summer.

AI will be able to replace all repetitive labor jobs first and then more complex jobs.

When we had more properties we would increase it, but it was not linear, but for me comfortable would be $20k for the first property and $5k increase for each additional door on top of that.