It is as easy to pick out as a wrotten apple in a basket.

You can buy a stock, in lets say apple or Microsoft, but that doesn't give you a seat at the table of CEO, CFO, COO ect... but In syndications, you can talk with the managing partner and get all the information, strategy, and experience ect.... 

They end up making it worse.Even if BP was to issue a warning about an investor, that doesn't remove their content from their website, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Apple and Spotify.

Get three apples-to-apples bids on the same scope, and check license/insurance/references.

It's definitely a people business and while there will be many bad apples out there my goal is to find the few good ones and work with them exclusively!

If Apple has a bad year, maybe Coca Cola has a good year.

That is totally OK, just making the point that short-term rentals and long-term multifamily are apples and oranges --- different business models, different requirements, different level of involvement, etc.Just starting out, there is value in being close to whatever you're doing if possible. 

Also RE has some marginal tax benefitsIm not disagreeing with you though, if someone has 500k cash today and they wont use debt they are most likely better off long term in the market vs owning an STR I've struggled with this because while it isn't apples to apples there is a beauty to VTSAX set it and forget it as opposed to having to hand deliver laundry detergent to STR because the previous guest took all the laundry pods and current guest can't make it a mile up the street to purchase their own detergent lol. 

Your price range is great for targeting value-add rentals in markets that still allow for strong BRRRR returns.For out-of-state investing, the two biggest success factors I’ve seen are:Building your “boots-on-the-ground” team early – agent, PM, and contractor should all be people you’ve vetted through referrals and small test projects before you go all-in.Having a consistent deal analysis process – I personally run every potential deal through the same buy box so I can compare apples-to-apples.

Or you excluded something from the actuals but didn’t also exclude it from the budget numbers to get a true apples to apples comparison (yes).