But honestly, don't just show up empty-handed - bring something valuable like market data on a specific neighborhood or a deal you're analyzing.

Property data is available online through both free and paid resources.

If your focus is long-term appreciation, then low cash-on-cash can still work — but only if:• Your financing terms are aligned with long-term hold• Your reserves are strong• The rent growth assumptions are realistic• You’re not overpaying based on hypeMany newer investors lose margin not because of the market, but because capital structure doesn’t match timeline.Since you’re building, I’d recommend analyzing:• Debt structure (rate, term, flexibility)• Exit options in 5–10 years• Local rent-to-price ratio trends (not just appreciation data)• Job pipeline sustainability (Redstone Arsenal, tech expansion, etc.)If you’d like, I’d be happy to walk through a sample deal structure with you and stress test it for long-term hold.Smart investors plan funding before scaling.

Austin has thousands of live short term rental listings, and based on a combination of platform data and city records, a meaningful percentage of those listings are either unlicensed, operating on expired permits, or relying on gray area compliance.

It is a data-intensive area of real estate, which is highly competitive, and takes quite a bit of time to see any payoff. 

The investors and operators that still transact consistently tend to be the ones who underwrite conservatively and pressure-test numbers before anything goes out.From my side, a big part of what I do is helping connect investors who value clean data and realistic assumptions, so fewer people waste time on deals that were never going to pencil.

This will help you identify location, size of house and max price you should pay based on different variables.If you put this data into a spreadsheet you can play with the numbers for "what if" scenarios.If you find some low producers that just need a remodel, professional pictures or some added amenities you might be able to reach out to these owners and see if you can find a burnt out STR owner that would rather sell, then you make the changes you see they need to improve the rental house's numbers.

I'm curious if anyone has had success with a data provider or site that tracks sale dates as they change. 

If you go the cold call / sms route, pull data from PropStream or Propwire (free option) and focus on motivated sellers - high equity, absentee owners, pre-foreclosure.

Then I cross reference with actual lease data from similar deals I've done or investors I know in the market.