When we purchase our upleg, how can we best negotiate to protect ourselves?

@Stepan Fedetskiy section 8 can be good option if you have a good PM who maintains the property in good shape all the time as per the needed standards. best part is govt pays a portion of the rents so you dont have to chase tenants, downside the upkeep of the unit will eat up appx 20%. so its little tricky..sounds good on paper but when you go through one you will get an idea. i had 4-5 section 8's , 3 of them had no issues, but 1 of them had lot of issues and ate up all the profits.  

Per my door contractor Home Depot and Lowe's have the best pricing on entry doors because of the sheer volume they do each year.

Yesterday come across this great article about STR best college markets  they use data from BiggerPockets Market Finder and AirDNA

Entity structure wise, I'm getting conflicting opinions from lawyers/tax advisors on which scenario gives me the best separation between properties and asset protection from rental activities:1.

bridge would be your best bet from a private lender 

Best thing to do would be to contact a lawyer and have them help you with structuring the note.

As a first investment, my best advice would be to focus on turnkey properties that are currently on the market instead of foreclosed properties.

@Margot Weatherford current NOI trumps potential every day, and is the best indicator of where the market is for the asset.

@Eric Sato My experience in that area suggests that Mid-term rentals (travelling nurses) may be the next best option.