Instead of chasing the latest hot market, focus on investing where you have the upper hand—where you have a deep understanding and local knowledge.

It's where I cut my teeth and tested all my knowledge and skills set.

I have a good knowledge of the craft but have recently found out about a non refundable due diligence fee on top of a refundable EMD.

You have so much firsthand knowledge with real estate in Hawaii.

In my experience, inspections are typically about safety, not whether something is up to code (that's what the town building inspectors are for). 

DEFAULTS Tenant will be in default if: (A) the Tenant don’t timely pay rent or other fees and charges they owe; (B) Tenant or any guest or occupant violates this Lease, property rules, or fire, safety, health, or criminal laws, regardless of whether or where arrest or conviction occurs; (C) Tenant abandon the property; ....When Tenant is in default, the Landlord has the option to declare the entire balance (all outstanding balances including but not limited to invoices, rent, cost due to damages/abandoning the property) payable hereunder to be immediately due and payable; the Landlord may exercise any and all rights and remedies available to Landlord at law or in equity and may immediately terminate this Agreement.XVI.

but knowing something and doing something with that knowledge are two totally different things.  

On top of that, there are countless people here (including myself) that will gladly knowledge share what we know and not charge a penny.

I think you will find him a wealth of knowledge ..I have invested north of there and spent time there.. its why I asked about STR .. 

but, that's myself and you'd be best served digging through things to come up with your own because the journey alone will give great knowledge and insights to better understand the "machine" of it all.