I did read someone on these forums advising against it too.Any advice/insight about this?

It’s totally normal to feel overwhelmed when starting out, but it’s great that you’ve been saving and reading up on investing.

I stopped reading after your tenants letting people who are not on the lease live there.

Have you read Start with Strategy by Dave Meyer?

You do need to have steady employment, decent credit, and not be drowning in debt.

I have also read a few auction foreclosure books as well. 

Whether you spend time networking, reading books, watching videos or connecting on bigger pockets or if you spend cash hiring a mentor, maybe partnering up with or doing free intern work for a real estate investor; whichever route you decide to go investing in yourself is one of the best investments you can make. 

The biggest employer shut down about a year ago and 3  hurricanes (2 major) hit directly in the last year.

Unsure about STR regulations in Charleston but I would advise you to search "arbitrage" on this forum and read up on the hundreds of pros and cons responses here before diving in to any market using the arbitrage model.

I have 0 experience managing STR properties, but lots of experience using Airbnb from my travels 😅 I am halfway reading Avery Carl’s book on STR.