Arbitrage vs STR buy and own

[Branden Heath]

I have successfully paid my way out of debt and want to start real estate investing. I have a high desire to be in the short term market. I live in the Pacific northwest (central Washington state). I want to start with a strategy where I can scale to purchase 3 homes this year. I have saved 80,000 to put towards this goal. I am looking for any vacation areas in the west (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada). I need help identifying a good market and also a strategy to continue to scale. 

My Second question is, I have heard a lot about rental arbitrage and I am wanted to know others thoughts on starting with arbitrage while we are going into recession. Is this a smarter way to get into the business and grow from there?