If you think you have average intelligence and a general hard working person, for non luxury STRs (competing with 3 star or below hotels in the area for average people who simply need a bed and a kitchen) I would use 60% occupancy rate to start in the beginning and then 80% after stabilization.

Most credit unions do not help with non-owner occupied properties. 

You could also look into non-recourse loans.

I'm diving into some of the public county-level Zillow data.

This will help direct your search to the right areas, property types and price point.If you're purchasing all-cash, skip that step.Depending on your goal and preferred timeline for closing, the majority of your time should be spent searching for and analyzing deals.Searching: Look at public listing sites; connect with an investor friendly agent and choose 1 to work with who can search MLS and off-market inventory; for additional off-market options, consider growing your own database of wholesalers and homeowners Analyzing: Your agent can send comps and you can also search public listing sites for sold homes.

They’ll often have leads on deals before they go public. https://www.biggerpockets.com/business/finder/agentsWith your experience in renovations, you may be able to find value even in these challenging properties.

Public records have information on every sale in your area.

But when I check public records... not so much!

We think it’s important as it allows us to check for Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) issues and to determine if an applicant is living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Its barking is on and off, but almost every day there are easily blocks of 30-45 minutes when it's barking pretty much non-stop.