These programs even the gurus say consult with your attorney, make sure there are no Loophole's, stuff in fine print, what gets people, you know stuff you need a magnifying glass to see lol.

Those seem more than fine, the biggest issue with condos is trying to get a handle on the association itself, do they have proper reserves?

Aside from hanging your hat (license) with a brokerage, all you need is a laptop ($300 at Walmart), cell phone w/ hotspot, $100 per mo, some business cards (not required), a CRM (the one in your phone works fine when coupled with a task list - both free usually), maybe a web site domain @ $12 from Google, and a simple one-page site as a sales sheet.

You may as well move into that market (By the way that's what we did in one market- we moved)Regarding hiring a buyer's agent, a lawyer and an inspector to do pre-inspections before you decide to make an offer- Buyer's agent and a lawyer fine.

Quote from @Brian Barch: I agree that this sounds like a pet project for you, which again is totally fine if you are okay with spending your money in that way.To me, the STR market (and from what I hear about the smokies) is on a downward trend.  

If every month I give a percentage to a managing agent, I am fine, as long as I see long term growth, even pair gains for the first 6 months and then start growing. 

Unless you have over 20 or so loans out there a spreadsheet works fine.

It's fine for training and networking, but, you will most likely not receive many clients from it. 

If the jobs are the same the cheaper guy is probably fine. 

If it is an ongoing issue you should be able to figure out who it is and write fines into your lease.