In 14 years, I can count on one hand the number of lender provided ready-to-go buyer leads I've been given. 

I would not count on short term appreciation to be great.Negative cash flow can get old fast   Especially when large cap expenses occur.  

I don't have the links to back it up, but I remember reading that a multi family doesn't count as an owner occupied resident that you can STR.

For multifamily, generally unit count bucket is going to determine your financing options, the three general cutoffs are:2-4 Unit5-10 Unit11+ Units

Thanks for the responses everyone, the confusing part to me was if I use the deductions against active income year 1 since STR's are an active business, but then switch to LTR's year 2 which correct me if I'm wrong can't count against active income- if this in some way has a disadvantage with recapture, etc. since the STR business would no longer exist

Apparently I can’t count income from mobile home and income from storage units changes the type of loan and the property won’t cash flow with just the income from the single family.

This was on the website The way we define business credit is as follows: business credit . is personally guaranteed but does not appear or count against you on your personal credit report (personal credit does).

Will appraiser count income from all units if title shows all the units or will there be a red flag with MLS / OM and city showing one less unit? 

That counts too!

Particularly with an FHA loan, you might find a home where the parcel is zoned for 2 units, but has 3 units which is legal-nonconforming... but then your loan officer will only count two of those units of rent to qualify for the loan because one is nonconforming.