If you haven't checked the market for homes with "inlaw suites" or whatever your market equivalent is that can be a way to get it done as well. 

Any telephone conversations, correspondence submitted via US mail fall into the categories of wire fraud and mail fraud.Without the permission of the mortgage company there is no way to legally do this.

Am I going about this the right way?

How can we best protect ourselves from potential retaliation and property damage?

One of the best ways(not the most exciting) is cold calling owners.

Not the best No, not that software.

Long term that makes them tough to sell to anyone else but an STR investor.There are much fewer quality STRs available to rent, so that's one way to differentiate.

Only other initial question I'll leave here is that I'm looking for REI mentors and hope to find a few on BP willing to share a few gold nuggets to those willing to slog it out in the mines the smart or hard way.

Once I know that I could better assess whether the use of debt to get started would be the best choice.All the best!

Either way, good luck with the choice.