I honestly thought to myself that both NY and Cali were very tenant friendly...

I was envious of a friends big gorgeous fixers in Arkansas, and I reacted by over-renovating, holding on too long, getting over-leveraged and then 2008 happened and…well enough said.

Now as I stated I'm not a agent but I do feel confident in this here friend. 

Buying a property under general partnership with 2 other friends.

Or you can sell it, split the equity, and go separate ways.I'm not a fan of borrowing from family/friends unless all parties are honest and everything is documented in a written contract.

Another good strategy is to connect with a local property manager that does real estate sales, or can refer to an investor-friendly agent. 

I just recently started a jiu jitsu academy with a couple of friends, and although I was not in the day to day grind of the process in finding a building and building the space out, I did become fascinated with the process.

Brokers are your best friend as we have the entire industry at the palm of our hand and usually save you time & money.

Yeah I have some friends that have properties they hold in New Orleans and have heard the good and the bad.

Quote from @Andrew Steffens: Sorry about your frustrating issue - Airbnb is not only guest friendly but most of the time they will be the one paying for damage so they are going to try to minimize you.