However in my area which truly is horrible, about 75% of tenants go through about 4 - 5 jobs a year, own NO assets and dont pay taxes or care about things like garnishments or judgements.

I'll get back to you when the sun sets at 3:45 this winter. 

Youtube is great - you can learn many different things from what neighborhoods look like, how to fix a part on car, make a certain type of dish/meal, understand a concept..etc This is 45-60k per unit in a MF, 4 units or more, NOT Sf prob,

You should be between $35-$45 per cut.

I am a 45 year old contractor and have been in construction all my life.

having been a Broker for 45 years I am all for paying the commissions  but add on like this not really unless its fully disclosed prior to working with them and we agree on it..

You could still be right outside city limits.I doubt there would be much demand for an STR outside of Huntsville or Madison city limits - maybe in Athens or Guntersville, but those are 45 minutes away from Huntsville and a totally different market.

I do enjoy my day job and hope to stay there as long as possible, with the hope of peeling off by 45 (just turned 40 this month) and after that would consider maybe using the cash flow to benefit me a bit. 

Oso Washington  49 peeps perished and 45 homes destroyed happened mid morning so probably a good amount of people at work that kept the fatalities down

I'd get a house with multiple bedrooms (4-5) and you can live for free or even cashflow with the rent you'll receive.