We can't make the next guy pay for the last guys mistakes.

Start small and Make Your Big Mistakes Early.   

I wouldn't consider a SFR to be a mistake if the rent can cover the expenses.

Choosing the wrong 1031 Exchange Qualified Intermediary to administer your 1031 Exchange could be a very expensive mistake due to the Qualified Intermediary's critical fiduciary responsibilities and obligations through out your 1031 Exchange transaction.You may focus all too often on issues such as size of the Qualified Intermediary, 1031 Exchange fees, interest rates paid, turn around times, branch office locations, and the like, when interviewing potential 1031 Exchange Qualified Intermediaries.

Do plenty of research and find out what other mistakes have been made in your are and learn from them.Both are great options but maybe doing a simple pros/cons list for both STR and LTR.

Intelligent people learn from other people’s mistakes.

If I hadn’t been an expert in this market there would have been many variables I would have had to estimate which is a rookie mistake.

I acknowledge I made numerous mistakes, but I do think I have a lot working to my advantage here.

Start small and make your big mistakes early. 

You sound like you might jump at the first bad application that comes in so you need to watch out for that as that is the worst new landlord mistake you can make.