I find the vast majority of my stays are families that love the games and 30-40% of the time they bring their pet as well.

meaning each guest must stay for 30+ days or more.   

I am sorry that the storm that passed through just prior to your stay required emergency roof repairs. 

@Scott Trench - have you considered investing in short term rentals, materially participating, and having the average stay be less than 7 days?

We had hoped to rent our house for short-term or mid-term stays.

With interest rates holding steady (so far) and US Treasury yields hovering in the 4-5% range, many investors are weighing the pros and cons of staying in bonds versus seeking opportunities in real estate.

I’m open to exploring those locations since they aren’t too far of a drive.I’m leaning towards a SF property because I have $10,000 to put down, want to stay within my budget, and being new to this, I’d like to start small.

I personally would stay away from condo-tels as they will be even worse and you'll have less opportunity to cash flow. 

One time I had a guest smoke and it went right up the ducts into my unit, it was awful.I'm conscious about how that could potentially affect guests who will be staying in the upper unit in the future.

Hey Marc - Offering free Netflix can be a nice bonus for guests and make your property more appealing, especially for longer stays.