Prepare financially by saving for down payments, improving your credit score, and setting aside emergency reserves.

Unfortunately, unless you see the underlying financials as well as supporting data for those financials, you do not know whether there actually was cash from operations to pay your distribution or not. 

I think real estate is very forgiving (1) over the LONG term and (2) if you're well capitalized / in a strong financial position. 

I believes that well-planned real estate investments can open the door to financial freedom and generational wealth.Welcome!

At one point I talked to my financially advisor and he said that it would be smart for me to open a HELOC on the property, but not draw from it, except in the case of emergencies.  

That had even a passing resemblance to tax returns or financial statements4.

We were in a financial position where we could keep our existing home, upgrade, and purchase another home.

I originally wanted to do a quad but financially I know I can’t fund a project that large, unfortunately.

Alternatively if they all love the deal, that's also likely a good sign.You can get a dog of a property in a crap neighborhood that will yield a 13.6% gross cap (not saying yours is), but that certainly doesn't tell the whole financial picture of how the asset will perform.

A STR is a completely different animal in my opinion, in that it requires more work and much more compromise, but financially is worth the effort.