I just think I'd rather have 10 paid off properties vs 50 leveraged.

The property has zero debt on it and most recent appraisal was for $187,000.

After she passed it became a rental to a slum land lord and after one of his tenants destroyed the property while having 8 people living inside it's 950 sq ft, he and I had a conversation and I bought it from him as-is for 69,000 and he didn't have deal with the mess they left.

I have a note out to my tax person but they take a minute to get around to things sometimes, wanted to see if anyone has dealt with this situation before.Sold property in my LLC and purchased new property with a hard money loan.

Is it a single family property or multi-family?

Property exceeds standard DSCR/LTV ratios and PFS is good too.Not 5%, but seems like there are some high 5% rates being advertised.  

I plan to use this investment property as a self-managed short term rental (STR) to generate cash flow.

is it needed if I am buying my first rental property?

I figure if I start out with a low maintenance property, I can lower the learning curve and decrease the stress of managing a business and rental property myself to allow me time to figure things out as I go along. 

. - Of course, this assumes you are managing the property with free labor.