We have a great blend of tourism, industry, 2 colleges in our county, agriculture and vacation homes.

Definitely will help tourism! 

Beach towns tend to only have tourism, which is the first thing to take a hit when the economy softens.

Those markets are going to have years and years of proven tourism numbers, as well as the most favorable STR regulations, since the economies of true vacation rental markets have depended on STR income for decades.

Tourism  is big in our area so vacation rentals for example are big part of the RE industry.

I was looking into Wilmington NC a while back but got the impression that tourism is an important part of the local economy.

Home values tend to be high in the area due to the tourism, rental income etc. but typically the high seasonal rents can cover the full annual mortgage.

Converted a 2/1 unit into a short-term rental due to a high-tourism area, owner-occupying one, and building out the top floor into a fourth unit.With owner-occupancy, the cash flow is still positive over expenses, but we're still considering various exit strategies down the line.

If your town has no tourism, see if you can do your STR for working people.

Still working on getting both properties to cash flow during the winter (off-season for our tourism community) and seriously considering dipping our toe into the local residential rental market.