I would love to meet some members in this community that would be interested in brainstorming with me to help my plan come to life.  

It also helps to consider the type of rental you want, short-term vs. long-term, and how each decision affects your overall financial picture.

The key is matching the strategy to your own tax picture and time availability, not just chasing the REP label.

I am hoping that a rate drop + refinance in the (hopefully near) future might occur and improve the picture - is that naive/unlikely? 

Columbus, Ohio is a market I’d definitely look at for this—properties in the $120K–180K range can hit the 1% rule and cash flow immediately, and the macro picture here is strong with population growth, job growth, and big companies like Intel, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Honda, Microsoft, and LG expanding or relocating, which keeps rental demand high and long-term appreciation potential solid.

I'd read set for life and get a good understanding of personal finance.

But when we have a large sample size (like Tarrant or Dallas Counties) then we get a little better picture.

Do you have pictures of this home?

You need a real time picture so that you can make decisions based on the facts - not fiction. 

They had sent messages to the host through the vrbo platform with pictures of the issue for a couple days.