We will use the high end of this range ($100k)   This implies the initial negative equity position is $150k  $150k (initial negative position)/$350 (cash flow) takes 428 months to recover the initial negative position (35 years).  

For example, instead of an initial 6-month lease at $1,200/month, and then re-renting it in the summer with a higher rental rate, you could market it as a 16-18 month lease term (again, great suggestion by Tim) at $1,600/month with a "1 Month of Free Rent" special which you could either divide evenly across just the first 4-6 months of the lease, or prorate over the entirety of their lease term.  

You should have/could have screened them when you initially bought the property, but there's no point doing it after you've had them as tenants for a full year.

The operation of an STR has almost nothing to do with real estate and 100% to do with hospitality, that is where you can distinguish yourself from other operators, provided you made a good decision in your initial purchase. 

Longer lead times I get alot of intern inquiries which can be fine but income wise they aren't as strong a candidate.  

Your first step should be building a strong team: an investor friendly agent, lender, contractor, and property manager are key.

They all had a very strong competitive advantage and focused on growing.

@Corazon B. when we initially purchased the home it was under our name, but we have now gone through the process of changing it to be under the LLC.

Initially, this might seem like a great idea as you can maximize rental income by renting out bedrooms kind of like college student rentals.

The initial thought is you are probably charging too much if no one is interested, or your photos or description are bad.Four beds and only one bath probably reduces demand as well, that’s potentially a lot of people sharing one toilet.And it is winter - I’m in Buffalo, I hate listing rentals this time of year.