This is the cleanest version of “buy the asset, not the problem.”If you accept the risk, add guardrails:Escrow holdback at closing large enough to cover X months of payments + legal + turn.

I have been trying to figure out which works best before buying my first property.This is what I observe:Excel spreadsheets - free but time consumingQuickBooks - $30/month but too complexStessa - free version is good enough but runs out of steam soonOther landlord software - from $20-40/month with mixed reviewsWhat's irking me is that the majority of these tools either make you feel like a huge property management company or as if you're not very tech-savvy.

For smaller properties, I’ve seen people do a “mini” version themselves breaking out things like appliances, flooring, and landscaping for faster depreciation.

Whereas a lot of these cabins are basically the pre-OTA version of STR where guests don't expect much from management and mostly keep to themselves.

This assumes that one can exchange 1245 property for 1245 property, and the current version of 1031 does NOT allow that.

I have an entire rant about this but the short version is that these properties come with a lot of hidden expenses that don't show up on paper when you're running the numbers.

I know TT had a a glitch in 2018 version.

One of my (younger, very bright millennial) studentsasked ChatGPT to solve a problem he's having with a property and asked ChatGPT, whichever is the newest version what to do.

There are people making real money in your hometown, but it does not look like the version being sold online.

It makes sense though: if the turnkey operator’s margins are getting squeezed, the investor’s probably getting the “optimized” version of the deal, not the real one.I really like your point about the 2-1 buydowns too — looks great in the marketing, but year 3 shows up like, “Surprise, here’s your real payment,” and rent didn’t get the memo.I’ll definitely keep digging into actual leases, rent rolls, PM agreements, and not just the glossy pro forma.