And of course the appreciation can come a few ways if rents really rocket up.. but most rents in low value assets stay pretty stable and or there is major re gentrification like we experienced in Charleston SC . 

Instead of paying 1250$ a month and staying in my current home I can pay 977$ per month and have an additional 4br/2 bath property. 

Makes an amazing shot of espresso, and pretty much idiot proof so long as you have your cleaner stay on top of the cleaning and maintenance.

Stay old-school.

You DO NOT ever finance the property to a buyer/tenant with the intention or hope that they don’t stay in the property.

We stay there about 1 week a month and do STR the rest of the time. 

First one that went in was 3 months but stayed 11. 

Its certainly not "guaranteed return" - thats a word to always stay away from in real estate (in finance or even investing in general)high level - its because HMLs are going to be secured by the real estate, meaning in event of default, the lender can get the property to be made whole - somewhat trust is involved, but thats the main mechanism behind it

Stayed the same?

Building a compset and diving into the details about the competition, cleaning fees, length of stay, and really, seeing who is out ther doing STR versus MTR etc.