The lake house conversion idea has potential — but tread carefully.If they carve out 2/3 of the property into a short-term rental, they could qualify for STR bonus depreciation if managed as an active business (not just passive).

If your long-term plan is to keep this as a rental after they graduate, then setting it up as a proper rental from the start can give you better write-offs and a smoother transition.In short: short-term = homestead simplicity, long-term investment = rental structure.

Went under contract with a relatively small non-refundable earnest deposit and a short closing timeline.

I have borrowers tell me all the time they only need money for some short period of time, but then when pressed they have only a half baked plan to get out of the short term note.   

Now, I’m planning to add a couple of short-term rental properties here in Texas.

We're interested in long term rentals, short term rentals, and/or house hacking but we’re not sure where to start.

Spoken to them a few times and every time i get the same "I will pay some amount shortly' response.

College Park can be great if you’re open to student rentals or short-term opportunities.I work with several investors in those areas on the tax and strategy side — happy to share what’s been working for them if you’d like to connect and swap insights.

Any value-add plays short of a full ADU build that have actually penciled out recently?

We’re usually structuring short-term loans in the 6–18 month range, with flexibility to build in interest reserves if that’s the right fit for the deal .I’d be interested in learning more about your current pipeline — especially the $400k–$800k range you mentioned.