And a general contractor would NEVER sign a customers contract 

Instead I want to take advantage of the opportunity I have of living rent free to invest my time and money in STR's to hopefully build that portfolio up and eventually make that my main source of income (I understand that will take time).

but end of the day lots of Black on your balance sheet simply is not a bad thing.. 

I know some might disagree.The challenge is if someone applies and meets all your criteria and you reject them, I would hate for you to end up in some legal hot water.

Some places require you to change the water between guests.I've never heard of a saltwater hotbtub.Sounds more expensive to purchase.

I speak to them regularly and bonuses have never been on their list of incentives.

A reasonably good source is AVVO.com by zip code and expertise.  

In the end it will all work out.

It was one of my first claims and I learned how their claim system works and never failed again. 

Real estate investing has been a passion of mine for time with my mother also having invested early on where I likely have gotten the love and desire to follow similar foot steps.I have taken last 6 months to educate myself and currently own a single family home as primary residence and would like to expand to multi family properties (2-4 units) for additional stream of income, not to mention potential tax benefits for long-term investing.Based on current living situation, I have a fair amount of equity established in my primary residency along with having enough cash to either pay off house completely or use towards investing in a multi family property.Given that I'm the sole source of income for our household with my wife being the home maker for our two kids under 2, trying to weigh out risks with getting started now or perhaps waiting.