When you sell, Uncle Sam wants his cut.

Doing this would allow me to cut my down payments in half. 

Unfortunately, Uncle Sam always wants his cut ;)

Am I not cut out for this?

I think chatting with hosts is the BEST way to get sound and clear cut data (given they keep P/Ls, etc.) because I know I've heard from some folks rumor the idea that Airdna skews data a little bit to make numbers look better than actuality to encourage folks to invest in the area & use their platform to see data.

I would protect myself and cut my losses so I was not looking over my shoulder or getting high blood pressure every time I heard a knock on the door (hoping it is not the FBI showing up to ask you some questions). 

I have little confidence in turnkey providers, deals are already hard to come by, if they take another 20% cut before.. much better to buy a property from an owner that is in good condition.

You might make less, but you cut a lot of costs, make the 1031 exchange easy and maybe worthwhile. 

Centralize your back office / use remote employees / VA where appropriate to cut costs and improve service levels / responsiveness.  5.

I've stuck with the tried and true reasons I've heard to keep my search ranking high (quality photos, stellar reviews, updates to my listing) and that helps but in slow season, when I'm not willing to cut my rates as much as some of my competitors, it can be a ghost town.