I wasn't intending to be dishonest or commit fraud.

There are no guarantees in STR, especially for newbs.Every building is one meth lab, one disaster, one delisting, one dishonest/disastrous PM, insurers who will no longer cover old wiring, one sudden change in regulations, one set of neighbors upset by several parties at your place,  slammed by a series of bad reviews, a surge of rentals driving rents way down, etc away from severe trouble.

But once again the lesson is that no Contractor at all is better than a bad or dishonest one......waiting is not so bad once you've been ripped off.The payment schedule should be in (or attached to) the Contract, and of course there should be a clause for performance or lack thereof.

Although I'm annoyed, I think he was more guilty of being a poor accountant than a dishonest guy.

There are lots of turnkey companies out there and it's really easy to put lipstick on a pig and be dishonest and fool the investor into thinking they are getting a solid property, when in fact they are not. 

I work with different investors that are not from Cental Florida area but have the desire to invest here .. they have the same problem as you and you wife along with many others who want to invest somewhere they are not that familer with .. its certainly hard to trust a realtor you have never met .. not saying that realtor's are dishonest ..

.- Extra person fees kept by owner at normal split- Pool heat fee is split 50/50 if applicable.Any other way I feel is dishonest. 

There are dishonest people who will dump their crap on you. 

Most people don't and think of S Corp as their own entity.Not to say you have a dishonest accountant, but it seems that many "push" for the S Corp to save you money when it basically makes them more money. 

@Joseph Chan There are dishonest people in every profession.