It is going to be an uphill battle trying to prove material participation with a property manager.

I have faced significant obstacles, including battling stage 4 cancer, dealing with betrayal, encountering bad deals, and navigating scams with PML & HML, as well as challenging JV agreements.

It sounds like he's leveraging the system to squeeze some money out of you, but at the end of the day, $5K might be the easier and cheaper route compared to months of legal battles and holding costs.

Setting clear tenant criteria is only half the battle—what really matters is how you obtain that information.

@Philip Beckwith many times, but have also lost a few times.You pick your battles.

Last year I had a guy buy a duplex DSCR for a lower rate than he would've gotten going conventional with half the battle. 

Better to be prepared than be fighting an uphill battle! 

Florida is battling a housing crisis brought on by surging insurance costs and HOA fees following a rise in natural disasters and the Surfside building collapse in 2021.

You give up some upside when sitting out a bit, but you save yourself for another battle down the line. seems like you can make things work by investing in local markets, so don't chase the paper dreams of long distance markets just yet. 

If it was 20 years ago and they had the same name, its gonna be an uphill battle to go back now after someone has been paying taxes on a property and probably upgraded it during that time.