I also noticed the area where I am looking to invest the rents seem to be dropping. 

One thing I’ve noticed is that the Midwest in general offers strong rental yields compared to coastal cities, where property values tend to be much higher but returns are slimmer.As for local networking, I'd suggest tapping into local real estate meetups, the local chamber of commerce or investor groups.

I would disagree with number 2 - in this environment, heavy rate buydowns are a common tool in the toolkit for lenders and borrowers to make deals work and are in no way indicative of "not being well-capitalized"

This is a common issue, but having stricter cost control measures or a contingency buffer in place could help on future projects.

That is fairly common in small town mid-state areas where COVID shot up prices and then fell flat when rates skyrocketed over the last 12-18 months.Mid-Term rentals are always +/- depending on time of year and how the property is marketed.

Then I discovered RHAwa.org which for $110 a year you get access to their attorney created lease agreements along with several addendums (bed bugs, crime free addenda, smoke free addenda, notices).

If there’s a noticeable drop in bookings due to the higher cleaning fee, it’s time to revisit pricing.

We are noticing the same here in Florida.

I do notice I got charged a Loan Origination fee twice, each for $855, I'm feeling that shouldn't be the case.

The second year, they all of a sudden at renewal sent a notice that I'd be required to have carbon monoxide detectors in each bedroom.