Many of the OTAs and lead gen sites, like Furnished Finder, are pushing credit card payments. 99.9% of the time I get a message from FF saying 'your tenant would prefer to pay by credit card so activate Stripe now!' 

If this will be your first rental, I would probably wait a year or so after renting it before scaling into more properties, especially if you will be traveling.

I know when i travel to hotels ( which is almost every month) I check for coffee pods and will choose hotel that has them  then i bring my own pods LOL  unless its a real high end hotel and they have the ultra coffee makers  do your cleaners know how to clean the water repository on a Keurig?

I personally love the area and travel there very often.

Our insurer is Traveler and their max coverage is 300K.

@Jade FrankIt’s great that you’re considering combining travel nursing with real estate investing!

The dream for me is to eventually free up my time and have enough income from real estate to be able to pay for my music projects, travel, etc. 

You are looking down a path well traveled and your criteria will be easily achieved! 

Our management company currently collects a traditional deposit from all tenants, including traveling healthcare professionals.

We now live in Arizona and I frequently fly back to the southeast to repair or inspect the properties and already deduct the travel, lodging, and half of the meal expenses from my taxes.