My cabins (1 to 5 bedrooms, all with views, and all except the 1 bedroom is further from town) are still performing well and most are on track to meet or exceed 2023 returns.The days of buying and everything running easy with people filling your dates and throwing cash at you are over.

(B) A purchase agreement may provide that in the event of a dispute regarding the disbursement of the earnest money, the broker will return the money to the purchaser without notice to the parties unless, within two years from the date the earnest money was deposited in the broker's trust or special account, the broker has received one of the following:(1) Written instructions signed by both parties specifying how the money is to be disbursed;(2) Written notice that a court action to resolve the dispute has been filed.

Sure you can get away with it , until a home inspector looks at the dates on electric wire , or pvc pipe . 

One of the REPS cases (I forget which off hand) they were basically like...petitioner states they spent 8 hours on X date supervising painters at the property and we find it highly unlikely that anyone would sit and watch paint dry for 8 hours. 

Here in Cali we don’t even have a date on when we can hope to start an eviction process.

I like the idea of STR as it seems like it can generate significantly more income than LTR and would allow me to block out dates if I have friends or family come visit.

Recently, with two separate inquiries (different dates, different groups), things didn't work out.VRBO Pre-Approval blocks those dates in your calendar for 72 hours. !!

If your contract states that "time is of the essence", you could have forfeited your right to break the contract and get your EMD back simply by not adhering to the dates specified in the contract.

But, then when they ask me the rent, the terms, available date......

You could have those dates booked on Vrbo instead if the dates were open and your ranking on your main platform would be higher which led to more exposure. 99% times, getting a higher ranking on one platform worth way more than picking up a few bookings unless a few bookings are what you are looking for.