You can always just throw it on airbnb, but you risk $5,000 per night fines.....not to mention the costs to furnish, manage and operate the unit.In my opinion, airbnb from an ownership standpoint isn't much better than just a good old normal long term rental, unless there are unique/niche like features that allow your building to stand apart from all of the other (and we're talking thousands) airbnb units on the market. 

Converting a hotel to apartments is not as easy as knocking down walls and throwing cash at it.

My CA friend is a professional engineer in commercial structural engineering (partner/owner of his firm) and is looking to seriously invest outside of CA...He personally owns a dozen units around SoCal, but is talking about throwing around big $$  on 40+ units anywhere but SoCal.

Then market the space and see if any bites that make the price you want to pay workable.If not then throw it back and do not buy it. 

Not sure if that fits your situation but wanted to throw it out there. 

I know I can throw the obvious trash out.

For financing, am I on the right track with who I've talked to already, or do I need be someone who throws leverage to the wind and simply keep a fat wad of cash for PP+Rehab costs in my bank account until it's time to use and simply skip financing all together?

This all may be TMI but this is a networking place so I guess I'll just throw it all out there.I'm just starting my journey in real estate investing.

I'm not afraid to invest in my business and education, but as I am sure anyone is, I am afraid to throw the money away on something useless.

I have an email out to my lawyer about this, but thought I'd just throw it out here on BP to see if there's any discussion.