In your situation, it sounds like the primary focus for you is more a quality of life play (reducing your commute time), and the STR may allow you to break even cash flow wise? 

At that point I might be considered to be engaging in brokerage with my role reduced to a "lead generator" for my contacts/employers, the Buyers, who are essentially paying me a finders fee.

You can often hire them at a reduced rate.

While DSCR loans focus more on the property's cash flow than your personal income, most lenders will still require a personal guarantor to reduce their risk.Keep in mind that DSCR loans typically come with higher interest rates than conventional loans, which is the trade-off for the easier qualification process.

Pacific Modern Homes is a great example - we built one of their kits in the 1990's and it was beautiful/ really minimized labor and scrap onsite.

:) Hi, first post herewhy would you want to refinance the 203k loan, would refinancing to the standard FHA mortgage reduce the interest rate or something?

Diversifying involves buying multiple properties to reduce risk and increase rental income.

Find someone at your local REIA who you click with and see about partnering with them, following them through a project, or offer to trade your labor/skills for them mentoring you. 

I'm dealing with a Union issue right now in a non real estate matter and labor relations attorney stated anything via text  is not considered binding.  

So any advice would be extremely precious for us to leverage some past lessons and experiences from the veteran investors here to reduce our risks of investing.