Once you have those answers and find out how Airbnb would penalize canceled bookings...that alone is huge deciding factor for some old/new STR homeowners....you can move forward with the best answers that would help you meet your 12-month goals! 

This was a huge investment for me at the time.

One place that will soon become a rental market heaven is an area around Johnstown/ New Albany where a huge Intel plant is under construction with plans for thousands of employees, not to mention the contractors there now. 

If we had a great tenant for 5.5 years at our property, we would not charge any cleaning fee outside of the excessive cleani gs (such as trash out of the shed). 5.5 years of not having to turn the unit and not dealing with vacancy is huge.

I know investors that have had success not doing this, but it's a huge risk. 

@Bridget HustonWelcome to the community and be ready for a huge amount of information at your finger tips.

But being our first investment we are just unsure which is most beneficial to get a loan. 

Recently I got a huge increase also.

In my experience, allowing these professionals to guide you can be highly beneficial, as they are likely to recommend properties they would be comfortable managing.

If for no other reason the more predictable and lower maintenance costs are a huge benefit.