Some of these include:1) Your product/value proposition2) Marketing/Management/Customer Success3) Systems, Automations, Efficiency4) LocationTo me, #1 has the biggest weight on the success. 

All other aspect of property management I feel I have automated except for showing the property.

There is rental software out there that can automate this for your, you can also set up auto emails to go out to your tenants.4.

Definitely look at cloudbeds & thinkreservations.com, also pricepoint.co  for pricing & akia for guest messaging/automation.

You can automate most things on storEDGE, from messages to delinquent customers to lock codes.You can also do your website through storEDGE, though we farm that out to another vendor that specializes in SEO.StorEDGE is likely overkill for a 36-unit facility, but if you plan to scale, I would prioritize implementing your systems now and growing into them, rather than starting with more basic software and transitioning later.

I found a lender that said they would do a HELOC, but they are using an automated system to value the property and they are coming up with a value of $186k, using the old information and previous sales price.

I felt he had an urgency before I sent him the automated link from myrental.com -- e.g wants to move quickly, wanted a 2-3 year lease (so got me excited about that - lol!).

You can easily spend a few hours a week or less due to how automated it is. 

It's either self-manage, or full property management, while I need something in the middle.Some more details on my situation:I own an STR in Gulf Shores, AL and the vast majority of it is automated.

So I presented him option 3, which is to build backlinks faster... you can buy them... but buying backlinks isn't something Google condones, most use a PBN or some sort of automation, and most are crappy links that will work great for the short-term and boost rankings... but you never know when the ranking will drop.