In my case I sold off appreciated properties in a location I deemed as having limited future upside, and used the proceeds to eliminate all debt on the better located prime properties I wanted to keep long term.

In a rapidly-rising interest rate environment (such as we've recently experienced) that tradeoff may or may not pay off.Unfortunately, in CRE finance there is no perfect financing vehicle and you can't eliminate risk--you must choose which risk you want.

One piece of advice I often repeat is that the goal of diversification is to reduce or eliminate any single point of failure.  

Can you eliminate markets that wont work? 

Let's eliminate credit screening.Where's all the private landlords?

This resource covers FEDERAL fair housing law, but I think some states (especially tenant friendly ones) may extend protections further and may even eliminate some of the exemptions.

.#1:  Rules of thumb will eliminate good deals as well as bad. 

If they are trying to do that, it is only a matter of time before they eliminate STRs all together.

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.

Eliminate debt, establish a budget, and save.