I live about an hour away from the area that I am looking to purchase in, and I do have somewhere I can stay rent free when I'm renting the property out to visitors. 

I am a frequent visitor but have not posted yet.  

I've also been an accidental landlord (the aforementioned rental house), and I manage a property for my parents as well as the duplex in which I currently live, so I'm a relative newbie but not completely inexperienced.I have fantastic credit, but not much in the way of verifiable income (self-employed musician=lenders run screaming).

I've never owned a short-term rental, but from what I can see they can do very well if they're near something that brings in a lot of short-term visitors.

Better to have half of a screaming deal than none of a screaming deal

Grace Porritt ,it is illegal to host an open house for a Realtor all by yourself without a license.Under the law you can do everything for the Realtor except talk to the visitors about the property or attempt to persuade anyone to buy that property or any other property.You can serve food and drinks,set up and take down the signs around the neighborhood,Greet guests and have them sign the registry,keep their children occupied while the Realtors work with the adults,and basically guard the front door while the Realtor walks through the property with the guests.You can never answer any questions whatsoever about the property.You basically have to say " the Realtor will be with you shortly" and "Thanks for visiting today".

I haven't seen the inside, but who would sell a $1M property without a single interior photo (This screams it probably couldn't pass any safety codes). 

The last one was 6+ months of negotiations, but I got a screaming deal AND owner carry in one of the hottest zip codes in town.  

It is probably more a concern for visitors than occupants, because occupants will get used to it.I wouldn't cancel the deal over this.

raising money at 5k to me screams of something to be very careful about.