If you are competing with other buyers, then you will want a hard money lender that can do a quick "desktop appraisal" and get you a pre-approval letter quickly.

My plan is to get a virtual desktop and install QB on it. 

You probably already know that Panama City Beach (PCB) is great for vacationers from March through September and for a smaller population of Snowbirds in the winter months, but did you know that the City of Panama City (PC) has a MUCH lower property price point and that the ENTIRE CITY is STRable (with only a few exceptions)?

@Stephen Dugan, the PC version, co-living, however, I just refer to it as a rent-by-the-room investment. 

The loan fees were reasonable, we got a desktop appraisal instead of a full blown appraisal which saved us about $3500.

Last year I switched to the desktop version and am much happier.

When we are in Port Charlotte On and off about 4 months of the year I would like to attend if possible / if guests are welcome  PC is about 45 minutes south of Sarasota .Very Quickly > My parents use to go down to Sarasota for 3 months every winter this is back in the early 50's  Ringling Brothers was still based out of there at the time .

@Cheryl S.Rental properties are set up as classes.If you want, you can set up tenants as customers.Accounting Software Recommendations - Quickbooks(Desktop), Quickbooks(Online), Stessa, XeroOnline Storage to save receipts recommendations- Google Drive, Dropbox, Apple DriveExcel - to save information such as tenant name, lease start date, current rent, etc

If you're this sensitive and PC you will have a rough time in the RE world, young lady......See.....that ^ might be mansplaining....  

@Jason Setzer Yes, meaning they do a cheaper online/desktop appraisal internally pulling comparables electronically and not sending an actual appraiser to the property.