I usually suggest interviewing property managers early because they’ll tell you very honestly which neighborhoods actually perform, what repairs are common in the area, and what realistic rents look like. 

Inconsistencies between private messages and public reviews are common, and support usually doesn’t weigh those heavily.The good news is one 4-star review among mostly 5-stars won’t hurt you long term.

A common thing we see with our clients (and most of them are international) is a few rounds of "interviews" with various professionals, and then eventually one in-person visit.

We discovered a few things  on the application that I don't know how to think about:- Applicant has 5 bad debt accounts that were charged off, most recent one 6 months ago auto loan, $12k in outstanding debt (applicant indicated it was a bureau error)- For prior landlords and personal reference - we did a reverse phone look-up; in all cases the phone numbers were registered under a different last name than what was on the application and that last name matched the applicant's (no exception - for all of them); TruePeopleSearch and similar sites all indicated that the applicant and landlords / reference are all part of the same family and all had some connection to the common address- That said the applicant's FICO is 640+ and there is a verifiable source of income from steady employment (government job)What is your advice regarding this applicant?

Wanting CA long-term holds eventually while starting out-of-state is a very common (and smart) path given pricing.If you like buy & hold / BRRRR but don’t want to manage renovations, many investors start with out-of-state turnkey or light-BRRRR deals in the Midwest and Southeast, where teams already handle rehab, leasing, and management.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the concept, the problem is how it’s commonly executed.

Since almost all of them are DSCR loans, it is not common to call them that, like it is something unusual.Commercial loans are usually based on the corresponding treasury rate plus a spread.

For a <7-day average stay, you’re right that the activity is not automatically passive, and the 100-hour + “no one else worked more” test is commonly used.

Nothing is foolproof here, but having a trustworthy person to make introductions is the most common way of successful out of state investing.

----Notice a common theme, at no point is cruising the MLS involved nor struggling for a seller to accept that which they have 0 desire in accepting.