Initial cash flow has a poor correlation with achieved cash flow over a long hold.  

To avoid going through the same poor experience, keep reading.Even if someone gives you a referral here, do NOT make the mistake of assuming that the PMC will meet your expectations, just because they met the expectations of the referral source.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

We're focused on solving CA's housing crisis by making it easier, faster, and less expensive to build high-quality housing units.

So, insurance premiums are getting VERY expensive.Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

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? 

Two books that would be great reads since you're just starting out would be Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and How to Invest in Real Estate: The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Getting Started by Brandon Turner and Joshua Dorkin. 

I would say this was the least organized BPCon (no cevent App, poor email distribution, my workshop that was $300 had about 20% attendance rate) I have been to, with the worse room problems (both ac and hot water problems in my room), and the hurricane issue (they cancelled the meal but many of the restaurants required reservations that we did not make because we were expecting the meal), and in my opinion worse keynote speakers even when one was a repeat (I like David Greene keynotes, but …), I enjoyed this BPCon more than the others I attended. 

I recently got out of the Army, and I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad.

_____________________________________________________________Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

Similar to Realtor.com the leading real estate company Zillow announced it will disclose climate risk features such as: flood, fire, wind, heat and air quality risks.