If the goal is to save the princess, would you set off on your journey wearing flip flops and a t-shirt and plié straight through to the dragons lair and knock on the door or would you let Princess Kashmir sleep a little longer while you saved up for some armour and a sword?

This is not to say that you will never run into issues with a PM companyManaging your own properties does come with its drawbacks, but in my experience it is definitely doable and with the right tools to help you manage, you can save a lot of money over time.

Habit for Humanity ReStore or Southeastern Salvage in Birmingham has the same products you're ordering online for a similar cost if you are trying to save money.

You could even use a 3rd, which buys LLC#1 & LLC#2 to keep it even cleaner.This is one of those situations where trying to save a buck (by going to the auction) will end up costing you more in the long run. 

My understanding is in agreement with some of the above comments that HomeAway wants to avoid situations where guests find the listing on VRBO but then end up communicating and booking with the owner/manager "off-platform" to save on the booking fees. 

Save the $ you would spend on housing for future down payment.Rinse and repeat until you have as many units as you want and you can buy a SFH for yourself. 

Welcome to the site Rachel.1st thing you need to do is save up some capital to work with.

That gave me time to save up a lot of cash and now I am back on the market to look for another one (conventional this time).

The duplex would allow me someplace to stay for little to cost but I can only save what I am currently paying for rent. 

I was always curious to hear from Scott himself explain the part of the book where he suggests saving 25k then taking a year off to start a business for example...then get back to saving up to 100k.