It’s tempting to be the nice guy and trusting but unfortunately this gets landlords burned more than anything. 

Repaired termite damage, renovated the bathroom, installed carpet in the bedrooms, and installed a wood-burning stove.

That will probably burn up the majority of their deposit and then you can deal with the rest later.Let's say they have a $1,500 deposit.

That way if prop 227 burns to the ground due to faulty wiring, the rest of your props are protected.

In the end, for your own website, don't burn too much energy on it unless you plan to accompany it with a solid SEO strategy...99% of your bookings are most likely going to come thru Airbnb/VRBO anyway.  

It was 80% occupancy, We have done heavy lifting like $15k/unit rehab on each unit and we rebuilt 16 burned units in 6 months from the day we acquisition and we brought occupancy to 97% by March 2019.

DSCR is a good route, but you could also start burning your limited conventional loans.I do suggest trying to narrow down to 1 market.

Great insight.After getting burned on my condo that I bought at peak of market in 2006, I am going to be very careful this time around and really want to put myself in a position to have some solid equity going in 2-3 years.The Charlotte market is a bit nuts now... homes have gone from being undervalued to overvalued in a matter of months.Guess all I can do is get myself as edumacated as possible and keep on the lookout...

Quote from @Lee Burns: I closed on a 2 family in the Avondale Park area on Feb 27th. 

LET-IT-BURN!