I'm not familiar with California but I know living in Florida, the closer you are to the ocean the more expensive it is to live.

Yes, you can deduct related expenses including gas, loan interest, insurance, etc. using the actual vehicle expenses method to deduct auto expenses for your rental or other businesses. 

@Cody Caswell depreciation, mortgage interest, insurance and one time expenses(non recurring) are considered add back expenses.

So, often times even if 1 or 2 of the units in the building are not generating any rent, the remaining rents are still enough to pay for all of your property’s expenses and you don’t have to come out of pocket to cover them.

Any luck on motivating realtors in the area to actually get operating expenses/lease agreements for Jackson County specifically George?

The least states:"Tenant shall pay a "late charge" not in excess of five (5%) percent of the amount in arrears for each month the arrears remain unpaid if any Rent is paid more than ten (10) days after the due date thereof, to cover the extra expense involved in handling delinquent payments.

What are your long term goals (eg do you want to buy another house) and do you have a large savings set aside for unexpected expenses? 

You need to minimize upfront expenses because 100% of your investment is at risk and lost if the lot is not buildable.My favorite strategy is to locate the property and tie it up for usually no more than $100 for a period of 8-12 months, analyze it myself and if I believe it to have a chance at being buildable I create a permitting plan and market the property to other investors/builders willing to take on the permitting risk.  

I believe the competitors are more expensive with unnecessary features.

I see 3-5 as a fad.Fractional ownership - way to much overhead for these to be profitable. think "timeshare".STR in non traditional markets - running a STR is a business and real estate, boils down to location location location - who would want to go to a conference and stay in a STR vs. the hotel where the conference is at, most businesses pay for this I do not see why.Mixed use with green - this has been going on for years- it will continue but it is also more expensive to build - which means higher costs to use.Not trying to be debbie downer, I have seen these attempted to be done in the past and they really have not been successful.I do really like the BTR model though as I continue to see that as a very good option in the future.