People interested in this type arrangement probably don’t have access to $150,0003.

It works great for many people -- not me -- but it might be your best option considering your distance. 

I live in a small town in eastern Arizona, about 7000 people, and we have a pretty serious shortage of rental properties.

Also, don't people tend to prefer Airbnb over hotels?

I can buy a 2-4 unit with 20% down vs conventional can only buy a 2-4 INVESTMENT property with 25% down 4. there are options where DSCR loans dont repot to personal credit, helps in not having to show a bunch of paperwork or not one person in a partnership has to carry the debt5. way less paperwork to close on this loan type vs a conventional loan. we care about the income of the property you're buying and it's ability to service the debt of the property whether we use long term rents income, lease income, or air dna/bnb income.6. easily buy in partnerships, add people to your operating agreement, its as easy as that so bring partners into a deal. helps with scaling and raising capital or getting partners involved7. gift funds allowed to close on these as well, and like I said earlier, there's only a 10day seasoning period of funds with some lenders so that means you can literally have a private money lender deposit money into your account 11 days before closing, and you can use those funds to close!

Lots of people do short term rentals with pools, this is not very uncommon.

But it wa a decent gig for people until a year or two ago.

Actually have people contacting me before I advertise a unit available.

My realtor told me that there's been happenings of neighbors turning in people who are doing STR's and getting investigated by authorities, resulting in fines & such.  

Since most people who are not actively seeking a sale are not motivated to sell at anything other than a top of the line price, this is going to be a numbers game of x thousands of contacts for every potentially doable deal.