Which route better on a 2nd property

[Eric W.]

Was able to get our long term home in 2020 and now am watching the market to jump in on a 2nd property. I’ve wanted to (way before the covid craziness) get a property in one of my favorite vacation spots then rent out part of the time VRBO/Airbnb, and use it part of the time for annual visits. Yes I know, since covid that’s literally what everyone and their mother is doing or wants to do.

In the years leading up to 2020 that’s what I was saving, investing, and planning for. Once COIVD came that dream fell out of reach because overnight it became everyone else’s too. So now I’m waiting for it to possibly come back into reach with a market correction that should be coming but never actually seems too.

The thing is, would it be better to do that and open a second mortgage while using VRBO to help cover the payment or find an income property somewhere that I can buy in cash 150k or less and have a long term rental.

For those that do VRBO/Airbnb is it worth it or a pain in the ***?

Current mortgage is 1900 a month 2.3% rate fixed 30yr VA. No other debt. Have about 185k that's liquid. 110k a year sal. I'm patiently waiting for the market to make a bigger correction but I'm Torn on what to do. I just know I want to do something. I am in a high property tax state so if I did a long term rental I'd probably look in Arkansas and do a property management company