For stand-alone houses with yards, I tend to either offer landscaping and grass cutting services as part of the rent, or I install solar powered cameras (connected to the resident's Wifi) that allows remote monitoring of the exterior - if they are handling their own lawncare.

Of course, normal profit margins are needed/expected, so the loan cost is usually capped at 70-75% of ARV and that right there is the margin of safety.

Some people do credit on occupancy for midterm rentals to push them over the edge to take your place over someone else's. 

Quote from @Devin Conley: The Reno market does appear to have slowed down a bit this year, but honestly numbers are not totally unusual for the time of year.e.g. monthly absorption rates are down YoY from 33.4% to 29.1% But other key stats like price drop rate are look typical and are actually slightly better YoY (down from 31.7% last August to 29.9% this year) It's not crazy unusual, but August did have some notable things that you don't usually see in an August, like 11% of homes coming off the market unsold, 31 DOM, double last year, and 3.6 months of inventory is the highest August I see in my data, which goes back to 2015.IDK if my personal opinion is necessarily accurate, but I've never paid too close of attention to the price cut rate.

Quote from @Chase Freeland: Cut costs for the next one you do....1.

it really gives you an edge when it comes to understanding rehab and running projects smoothly.

What STR & MTR operators are increasingly realizing is that optionality is important - if it pencils as a LTR thats a nice safety net if regulations change or MTR / STR traffic is less than you'd hoped. 

I have a 4 unit there kind of on boarder to edge water the growth been amazing. 

Welcome, John,  great to see you're cutting through the noise and staying focused.You're right: real value rarely lives in social feeds or sales funnels.

For those seeking more safety, six months' rent per unit is recommended, which also aligns with typical bank expectations.