This will be my first time purchasing an STR, and I have no prior experience.

Anyone have some first hand experience with RADD/REIT that Dutch Mendenhall runs.

However, we will likely need a property manager to assist with some facets of running this rental (since we would not live locally) and would primarily market it through platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO to start, (eventually setting up a direct booking process).Here's our question for those who have experience in STR's or who might be involved in a similar scenario: How challenging is it to meet the material participation hours needed to achieve active status?

This has nothing to do with real estate experience. 

However, for the right situation and learning experience I would not rule it out. 

This flip at 1272 Lakins Rd, Etna, was a learning experience as it was the first for my business partner and me.

In my experience, a large percentage of them are fully functional adults that refuse to take personal responsibility for their lives, which is why they are receiving free rent from taxpayers instead of working for a living.

I used to cold call, skip trace, send mailers, and don't get me wrong you will get success from it like James above, however as you gain experience you will realize you need deals faster, easier, cheaper, and with more "meat on the bones" and in order to have that you need constant deals flowing through your eco system and that's hard to do with mailers, cold calls, VA's and skip tracing etc.

Here is my list of the most dangerous real estate related investments for the “non professional” investor lacking direct knowledge  and experience in these investments 1.

I manage around 400 rentals with 14 years of experience and have never been sued once.