With buyer demand increasing in this neighborhood and a large margin available after repairs, it was a perfect fit for a full renovation.

What is everyone's thought on using a Private lender and where to start looking for a private lender to talk to and see if that would be a good fit for you?  

We really like the simple interface that Rentec Direct has.Most of the services offer a free trial that you can get in and play with them and see how they fit your needs.

Also stick to American brands, because parts are cheaper, available everywhere, and cross-fit a lot of brands and can often be had secondary for less. 

If a lender isn’t local, what are the best ways to vet them to make sure they’re reliable and a good fit for long-term partnership?

If you post an intake form with criteria and expectations, you’ll attract the right fit fast. 

As in all things in life (like choosing a spouse)for instance, it's incumbent upon us to examine our individual personalities regarding whether a proposed partnership would be a good fit or a disaster in waiting.In 2007, when I lost more than $130,000 in the stock market,I learnt a permanent lesson that stuck with me till today.I discovered that I was a control freak.I needed to always know how my actions directly related to my results, and most often like to retain the ability to change my mind even if others would find such reversal a stupid idea.Seeing how much control I didn't have on how my stocks performed in 2008 despite all the information I had consumed for several months regarding value investing and how to analyze a company's fundamentals scarred me for life.It made a real estate investor out of me.The safety and assurance that I was taking sole responsibility for the calls i made and the risks I decided to take was a calming refuge.Having been a Pro-member on BiggerPockets for as long as I've been has its perks.It gives one a front row seat to see in slow motion the interesting evolution of the component parts that make up this mammoth industry.I watched in amusement as one member arrived as a total newbie in 2018 with a welcome post, voraciously consuming unsolicited counsel on the member forums for a few months and then posted a "success story" of his deals after 6 months.Within a year, he had his own podcast and is now buying large apartments as a syndicator pooling investors' money.To be clear, this is not a hate post.I certainly do not begrudge people "crushing it" in record time.Nonetheless, as a 'senior' member of this community who has seen this movie before,I do feel a lonely cautionary voice in the wilderness is needed at this point.We are in an environment of unprecedented cap rate compression and record low interest rates which is only headed in one direction after this is all over.Yes, make no mistake, the music will soon stop.That has very little to do with an upcoming election and is regardless of who wins the White House or who controls congress after November.If you've listened to Kevin Bupp and Rod Khleif, you know what happened to their portfolios in 2008.These were no amateurs, as a matter of fact, they had many years of investment experience when the music stopped.They both weathered the storm and came back stronger and that is why I remain a shameless fan of both men till today.Several others were not that lucky, and you will never hear their names.In this space today, there are investors and there are educators.The educators have taken over the habitat.That is why there are now more podcasts on real estate than I can get through in a working week.Real Estate education is so very lucrative now that it is possible to make way more money from podcasts and books than in actual real estate investment for some gifted marketers with smooth tongues and gifted content creators.We are in the information age after all, and youtube millionaires are now perhaps outpacing patient real estate buy and hold landlords in the passive income/ cash flow game.Belonging to a $25,000/year mastermind and attending a syndication bootcamp does not insulate anyone from catastrophe.

We actually manage over 300 properties in the Clearwater–Tampa area and help investors find new deals that fit exactly what you’re describing.

Hey @Laura Heald, I’ve got a buddy who actually built financial freedom doing co-living, but it only worked because he treated it like a real strategy, not some magic cash-flow hack.He’s got 7 places in Florida — all tweaked to fit 6–8 rooms — furnished everything, used PadSplit’s structure for rules/tenant issues, and had someone local handle the hands-on stuff.

Happy to chat more over DMs if you’re interested.In general, the difference between co-hosting and full-time property management comes down to how involved you’d like to be as the owner.Co-hosting is a good fit if you want to stay engaged but offload certain tasks like guest messaging or calendar management.Property management is better if you’d prefer to be completely hands-off, with the manager handling everything including guest communications, maintenance, cleaning, turnovers, etc.However, there are two big benefits, in my opinion, to co-hosting over property management.