It's also more rewarding financially, but definitely a lot of work!

I personally have a built in pool and know the rewards are great even in this hot Virginia weather.

Financially, a vacation rental is higher risk (you never know if you'll rent it 30% or 60% of the time), higher reward (some homes grossed $10k+/month this summer & fall).

APPRECIATION   Risk / Reward  solid areas/properties that are highly liquid.. can be sold to homeowner for top dollar.that's why people invest in those markets.. 

Finding that 'sweet spot' in the mid-tier range can indeed be a rewarding challenge.

Always make an offer based on your risk reward.  

it seems to me like you are taking unneeded risk for very little reward. plus you are paying more for the property in the long run. like I said, I don't understand. there has to be something I'm missing.

As a long time Bigger Pockets podcast listener its very rewarding to hear the stories and then read about them in the Forums. 

This isn't always 100% but like with anything in real estate investing you can balance the risk and rewards. 

I think for mom and pop investors, definitely too much risk for the reward, big aggregators of this asset class that have more leverage and scale should be fine (i.e.