They are much less aggravating/ management intensive/ depressing to own, and provide much higher overall returns over time thanks to less churn and way more rent and value appreciation.

Most lenders have seasoning requirements, so you would need to own the property for 12 months to obtain a loan based on appraisal rather than lower of appraisal or purchase price.The longer the period of since property purchase the more likely an appraisal higher than purchase price.The exception may be a "hot" market where prices are moving up sharply almost every day. 

But I'm going to let you guys handle the artillery barrages, I'm going to just remain in my standard sharp shooters seat (My deck chair next to the hot tub, or sometimes even in the hot tub) answering what I know best about- however many or few those questions are.Right now all of this is just-Smoke on the water.

Student housing is also more PM intensive so finding a good PM may be difficult.

It's a game of hot potato.Short-term rental valuation is a function of = Interest Rate, Replacement Cost, Cash Flow, Appreciation, and some others like Insurance/Easy of Operating/Taxes.  

Roof, windows, doors, furnace, hot water heater, concrete, etc.What research did you do on the neighborhood and probably tenant pool?

I now have a ten-page agreement and it keeps me out of a lot of hot water. 

My goals so far are as follows:1) Set up 2 more LLCs under my WY holding company2) Be fully licensed for real estate in Idaho in addition to my Washington license 3) Add at least 7 new cash buyer investors to my hot deals network4) Source at least 2 good attorneys/ escrow LPOs to handle simultaneous wholesale closings and executory contracts 5) Networking with highly focused JV partners, as it makes sense.  

There is plenty of room for rental growth in this area given its small size and the rental market is very hot and there’s little availability.

Is the market there hot?