If this happens while you are doing arbitrage you still have to pay the long term rate to the landlord while you have no income coming in.These are just some personal thoughts I had about this business model.

It's amazing to me that they survive. 

This is a fairly common model I believe and is best suited for agents that don't need any support (which it sounds like you would fit that bill).

This appears to be "Getaway House's" business model.

From reading the forums, I gather that most landlords here change the filters themselves because clearly you cannot depend on the tenant to protect your $4k investment.The problem with this model is the time spent driving to the rental to do the swap.

If you are fine with continuing to work and save money, them my recommendation is what I call equity growth mode.

Our model is built and focussed on long term residents (3-8 years). 

Always turns out that there is a story, otherwise if the site was easy, it would be built on already.Phase 2 - a little tighter on time spent per deal, still very much in the "I can make it work" mode, but a little quicker to jettison a deal if it didn't work.Phase 3 - present day, generally, I am merciless in declining deals that have the wrong kind of hair on them, have difficult sellers, terrible site issues, impossible zoning, etc. 

Most people say don't buy for appreciation, but I've seen sharp folks with deep pockets buy in hot markets with negative cash flow because they have enough money to gamble and still survive if they lose, because they are banking on that appreciation. 

States with no income tax survive off property taxes, sales tax and other taxes, many of which are not deductible. 5.