I've been running a vacation rental operation in South Florida for the past 7 years, helping owners drive revenue.

For example, Brandon Turner was great as a podcast host that helped a lot of people and now seems like another slimy online guru who is better at promoting and fund raising than being a good operator. 

Hello I just rented out a duplex and in the lease I have this clause : Appliances: The appliances have been supplied in complete working order.

Hello Sara, I am a General Contractor and I own and operate Raising Detroit.

I did speak to a real estate attorney, and his recommendation was just have the property LLCs and operate out of them property wise/independently.   

Look for long time operators, ideally that survived the Great Recession.  

I have never had to do a full gut on a home yet, mainly just flooring, paint, appliances, and interior work.

So the govt entities can't come in and change the laws to restrict or prohibit STRs from operating like they are in many other areas. 

Smaller facilities have smaller operating budgets so any one bigger repair or required maintenance item can blow your annual budget.

I use competitor pricing as guide posts but since I've been operating for several years, I look at historical, year over year data for my own place and raise it a bit.