Sorry for the hassle..... its going to happen sometimes....best you can do is learn from it and try and make some changes in screening and other things that may help avoid issues n the future.I try to tell myself....this is business....its going to have its up and downs....easy times and hard times.... some failures but much more success in the long run if you stick with it and learn from mistakes we all makeAnyone that goes into this thinking its a piece of cake and easy $$ is a fool.....its hard work but well worth it in the long run

Just because there are good deals to be found, doesn't mean there is an abundance of inexpensive management companies.The true cost of management is not in the management fees, it's in vacancy, turnover, and maintenance cost....the fee is insignificant compared to these items being managed properly or improperly.Buying and analyzing property is easy and self managing a small number of units is a piece of cake. 

All the cake frosting cielings are out, and skim coating is underway... 

Have your cake and eat it too!

If that does come to fruition then good for you thats the icing on the cake but if it doesn't then you are still making money.

Most investors in Anaheim and Palm Springs had to shut down after city bans.4) Refi of the property is much harder (maybe it's because lenders know all the above).Make sure you read this post from a LTR landlord who tried airbnb.Now if you enjoy designing a new house, furnishing it, interacting with guests, playing with the pricing and other parameters on airbnb/vrbo and having the property available in case of sale or personal use, then STR has great benefits.

I don't hold them for appreciation but rather the fun of shooting them and the appreciation is just icing on the cake.

When an investor buys they should automatically count for property management EVEN IF they initially are going to manage themselves.Often a mistake by investors is to say they are going to manage themselves, cut cost here and there, raise rents, etc. to make the numbers look potentially good enough for them to do the deal.Those things need to be icing on the cake and not the cake itself for returns. 

Expect competition in these scenarios, everybody is looking to take a piece of the cake, including myself... 

What I would do if I were in your shoes is a cash-out refinance or get a HELOC, which could allow you to have your cake and eat it too.