But few sponsors are able to offer long term track records of success with the type of specific property and type of operation being offered. 

They will be to offer local expertise and market data as well as vendor relationships that you may not have. 

heheI miss the Midwest's "simple" mentality of my common folks.Even tho, as you mentioned the weather can get brutal.It's always a tough gig to do deals from afar unless buying turnkey.Even then, turnkey is not worth it unless the portfolio is big.As soon as you can, move to the market you want to invest in and with time you might become "institutionalized" to it just like I did with Toledo hahaI put Ohio Cashflow on the back burner 3 years ago as I got burnt out on working with investors lolWe only sell from time to time to our existing book of business and if I like the specific investor hahaI list most deals on the MLS and once sold, I clean my hands.No need to babysit the never satisfied and disgruntled landlords expecting retirement from 1 turnkey property...Unfortunately, it is what it is and I ate $#@% for many years before I said enough is enough heheOz Realty has been the bread and butter for us and our main focus since we shifted focus.Crazy that I'm even typing this as I hated PM for many years and considered it just as the "necessary evil" in order to offer a turnkey product.Now, if I could turn back time, I'd never do turnkey and would only do PM hehe.Everything happens for a reason mate.Granted, it took 7+ years to create a lean and efficient PM machine heheI'm in Toledo every month for 7-10 days so feel free to hit me up whenever you are in town.All the best mate 🙏 @Engelo Rumora , haha, a new book would be valid for sure, as things do change fast in this world, looking forward to it. 

Oh, but they would love to offer me a line of credit so they can skim 5% or whatever off my accounts receivable.

So trying to offer other alternative amenities that may appeal to the nongolf community.

Both have their pros and cons, but notes seem to offer steady returns without the tenant headaches.Curious how others are planning their 2025 investing mix — sticking with rentals, or starting to look at paper?

Slight variations work elsewhere.If you are new and looking at buying a property or a house, or other real estate, I’d compare cash to financing, to offering creative financing to the owner.

I haven’t used STRsearch.com personally, but they seem to offer solid analytics for STRs.

I think of seller finance as another 'tool' that you can use to close on a purchase.You can provide the seller(if he has anough equity) the option to purchase the property with a mortgage(with the bank) or to offer seller financing where the seller can get additional monthly income via interest.An example would be on a house where the seller is asking for $400,000Offer 1 - I can offer you $350,000 for the house with bank financing or I can offer you $380,000 if you allow seller financing. 

That requires the Bank/Lender to offer multiple programs.