I am not on a mission to make everyone wrong... and be right.

I've been also looking at SFHs in more suburb neighborhoods like Shawnee Mission, OP, Olathe, even maybe Gardner. 

Just push forward be smart get a good job, and make it your mission in life to pursue your dream.

Typically speaking, Flip candidates will be in the burbs 10-20 min away from the downtown city center point.This would include (in order of highest avg price and appreciation (which is around 9-12%); Johnson County KS (Overland Park, Leawood, Shawnee, Merriam, Prairie Village, Mission, Roeland Park,etc) Parkville, Lee's Summits, Blue Springs, Liberty, Northland (Staley and Oak Park HS district in Particular)That being said, there are many prolific flippers with strong relationships with wholesalers who swoop up anything worth a damn pretty quick.All of these 'A' markets are often 'fed' by tertiary markets further out in the metro (30-45 min from the city center point) and other desirable markets further out from the metro (OP fed by Spring Hill and Olathe, Liberty fed by Excelsior Springs, Orrick, Richmond, etc, P and then standalone markets of Excelsior Springs, Platte City, Kearney, SMithville, Weston, etc...I am less familiar with standalone cities in the south, but these would include Raymore, Louisburg, Peculiar.For flips though, its all about purchase price, and most of the wholesale (and a few on MLS) deals that I see that would be good flip candidates due to entry price mostly exist in Independence, Raytown, Gladstone, Grandview.Areas to avoid are in the city center.

I have experienced exactly what the OP describes…We had an STR that operated legally as an STR for 24 years (in Mission Beach) not get selected in the recently enacted STR lottery.  

There is definitely a different need (necessity) for HVAC between (temperate)  Napa, CA &  (steamy hot) Mission, TX. 

@Robert Willard1-The city of Nashville is on a mission to shut down ever STR in residential zoning.

I am looking to get started in San Diego Mission Beach area and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Make sure you have people you can trust and that want to be on mission with you.  

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...please share how you are using Podio to manage your mail campaigns, how you are tracking cost and what mechanism you are using to get your mailings done (ie are you exporting as a spreadsheet to upload to click2mail, have it automatically sent there from Podio, etc.).