Banks must approve a short sale for a short sale to take place, and banks hire appraisers and other real estate agents to perform broker price opinions (BPOs), or estimated values of the home.The goal would be to negotiate with the seller before the home becomes a short sale. 

Handle Legalities:Make sure you have all the permits required for the task you intend to perform.

I’ve tried VRBO and Furnished Finder, but they didn’t perform well in my market.

Everything in the article makes total sense...wealth building helps through appreciation and debt paydown over time.It makes sense that chicago suburbs with strong school districts perform the best. 

It's possible to get some motivated sellers through a website with assistance of SEO , website optimization and PPC, but it's not a basket I would put all my eggs into if I was trying to locate the sellers. 

The cons as i see it include loosing the 2 of 5 year cap gain exception, typically not an ideal rental because the emphasis at purchase was buying a good home for your family and not a rental with optimal return (my ex-home consistently has the lowest cash flow for equity in my RE portfolio), not disconnected enough from the property causes addition angst on damage and may result in over improvement.  

. $250mnth is not good performance.

Owners mistakenly ASSUME all PMCs offer the exact SAME SERVICES and PERFORM those services EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, so price is the only differentiator – so, they often select the first PMC they call or that calls them back!

Perform an inspection while you're at it. 

Hi everyone,I’m looking for some guidance on improving the performance of our short-term rental, and I’d really appreciate your insights.