If you buy a short term rental, you are going to bleed cash for 1-3 months getting it to market.

You covered the math above for inflation, now cover the math for when you're bleeding.

Right now I'm bleeding money from my Class C Indy homes so I'm not putting any offers on any other properties.

@Anthony Johnson, I like to call them the audience with bleeding necks.

Unless you like "investments" that bleed you dry every month - move on...

I need some advice because there may be ethical & "bleeding heart" flaws in my plan.  

You don't get the proportional depreciation you do other places, your cash-on-cash return numbers don't look so hot, and you could bleed some cash (especially during any hiccups in occupancy) in the near-term, etc. so there's no free lunch.  

Scenarios like the one above will bleed a business dry.

I don't know what your market is but $86k/unit looks nose bleed expensive to me without spending any money on them.

I was a bleeding heart at one point in my life too....pretty much until I owned rental properties.