There have been several high-cost damage issues and one where they are at fault and confessed to, resulting in thousands of dollars, that have put me in the hole to the point I won't make anything off of this year's lease.We live in Colorado and it's made it difficult to manage, even with paid professional services, so we are selling as soon as they can vacate.

I will be using a property management company also so recommendations would be great!

20% Factoring in property management we see breakeven at about 25-30% down depending on the deal.Appreciation has been 4-10% annually with variations of course.  

Once you are comfortable with running real estate, you can consider having one of you leave work and manage the properties full time.

Hi @Francesca Zanzucchi, we use Buildium in our property management company but they do have a minimum monthly fee so depending on the number of properties, it may or may not make sense.  

We self manage all of our own units and it's worked out well for us.

Reach out to former landlords or property managers for insight on the applicant's rental history and reliability.

Do you have any recommendations for a good realtor or a wholesaler or a property manager that can help me out with this.

Ask them if they own STRs in the areas you are interested in or have access to actual performance data in that area through a property manager or cohost

Additionally, lenders may consider various factors such as past income statements from the subject property or income statements from similar properties nearby, managed by professionals.