If you want passive income, these are not the ways to get that.

I see the same with note investors and people writing books and doing coursesI can name many people who now sell courses in a different strategy (whatever is hot) because they just bounce around promoting a lifestyle “live your life and earn $25k/mo passively with (insert investing type).

STR properties that have an average length of tenancy of 7 nights or less qualify as non-passive rentals.

You've come to the right place to gain general knowledge.

I love real estate investment and really don’t want to give it up and put my money in an index fund or some other passive investment vehicle.

I max out the $25k to offset my W2 under passive activity rules (as its slowly phased out for me).That being said, would it be beneficial for me to buy one or two STRs primarily for the purpose of being able to offset my W2 income?

It's easy to go from "Wouldn't it be cool to make some passive income?"

Short term Flip for capital gains?  

Bidding on contracts:Some companies/people quote low to gain the contract, then they start to skip services or produce lower quality to maintain their profit margin. 

And be care of taking advice from someone who has something to gain from you.