The good news is that in cities like Berkeley with aggressive rent control, there is always a shortage of available rental units (the rent board bureacrats constantly find ways to perpetuate the housing shortage upon which their jobs depend).

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but off-market strategies typically aren’t the best approach for acquiring multi-unit properties.

NAR says it has the 4th highest rate:  https://www.nar.realtor/magazine/real-estate-news/states-whe...Sure, not nearly as high as FLA but still more expensive then the average state and is the only state on the top ten on both the property tax and insurance list. 

Is there something in the news that I missed?

I would think they would.I was just thinking after seeing someone one the news who had their life savings in Florida STR's.I think it is important to diversity and not have all income producing properties in one place especially when it is prone to a certain type of potential destructive weather. 

Data hack reference: https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/cleveland-...

So the good news is that there are currently two full-amenity condo buildings in/near downtown Chicago in prime A+ Class neighborhoods that allow short-term rentals: 545 N Dearborn and 30 E Huron.

Great news is when you get a deal there the spread is usually solid, bad news is many of the traditional marketing tactics don't work very well (at least in NYC where you cant cold call, PPC & PPL is really expensive and I don't know anyone who does well with direct mail).

The good news is that once you gain some traction you can hire a VA to help with the initial calls (either part time or full ). 

This is a surprise after the recent news from Zeus