Not everything has been perfect, as we are always growing, but we created good systems to find and keep good tenants.The biggest hurdles are: -Are you located in an area that people will rent by room?

We operate one of the biggest investor marketplace platforms in the nation servicing over 100,000 investors nationwide. 

But you acting as a transactional agent/broker making a fee its not about that as much as downside if your seller gets hammered.

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for mishap in this area is when going from a building that has been cost segregated and wanting to 1031 into land. 

House hacking is about subsidizing your housing payment and eliminating or lowering that monthly burden which is your biggest expense.

@Tracy Scott it's highly dependent on the deal, the type of property and the location.In addition to the items others have mentioned, here are some of the biggest potential start-up expenses that I study closely before buying a property:Foundation/structure--this is one of my few "deal breakers", I typically will not purchase a property with significant foundation or structural issues.

The main downside to syndications is the high minimum investment ($50K+) and learning how to vet syndicators.

From most OOS investors I am speaking to this is where most of the attention is, so be prepared for competition - seems that this forum was revived from the dead but to answer the original question with a few practices you can manage the air-bnb yourself to get higher occupancy, I would recommend educating yourself on tricks for the platform those will make the biggest difference - definitely helps having someone take care of your air-bnb account and for completely hands off investing do that but just previewing/welcoming who comes in can be done remotely in a professional manner I have seen it done in multiple states. 

If it is tied to the home, you have a few options:1) include electricity in the rent (down side with that is tenants may be less diligent with electricity use and increase the bill)2) have the tenant pay it and include a copy of the statement every 1-2 months to show that it is paid in full.3) have the bill in your name and send a copy to the tenant each month (or whatever the billing cycle is) and they can add the balance to their rent each month. 

I want to access the equity in my home for other cash flowing assets w/goals of maximizing the spread btwn the interest I'm paying on the HELOC and the interest I'm earning on the asset.One major downside is most HELOCs are adjustable rate, and I'm certain rates will be increasing even more in the near future, so finding a bank that has a rate-lock option is my hedge.I've looked into this strategy a lot, seen the comparison numbers, and am still looking into different utilization strategies.