The manufacturing equipment is sort of old.  

I was hoping to find some sort of refi with payment deferments but it looks like the programs require more equity that I have.

FF is just one source and good for establishing a baseline of sorts, but I agree with you that it's going to be beneficial to market on other sites, including the OTAs.

Every property will need some sort of cap ex originally. 

For sheriff's sales (foreclosure auctions), its 10% deposit that day and the rest within 10 days.I'm sure this sort of thing varies widely from state to state and even within a given state somewhat.

I did a pretty conclusive poll of about 14 lenders of all sorts and each and every one wouldn't allow larger loans for operating STRs.

Personally, I think even at our forever home we would like to have an in-laws suite, separated basement, or an ADU of some sort to house our parents. 

It may be worth looking into getting some sort of partner that has greater access to credit or loan ability.

If I can be proven wrong I would LOVE that, becuase it means that there are a crap ton of creative ways of helping people with 2-3% mortgages achieve all sorts of things while keeping their loan that they don't think they can...

Buy or inherit and hold all their lives while working the properties for income.I've seen teachers, firemen, software engineers and all sorts of people utilize both strategies successfully.