Sometimes it is a grind to get to the optimal out of pocket cost, but stick with it if you see a path to lowering costs. 

Investing in your backyard is always ideal, but there's not always great to deals to be had, depending on where you're living, so I think there's nothing wrong with finding an optimal market(s) to invest in, but maybe just start small and make connections and don't be afraid to make mistakes.  

I would say the attention to the details of keeping your property priced right, listing optimized for SEO and having a direct booking option with marketing is going to be more and more crucial as the market changes and success isn't as easy as it was over the last couple years.

If so, then I usually only look at COC returns based off of as-is operations and pro-forma at conservative optimization.

Decide if you want to be pretty hands on with the site and optimize it to really do well in the search results, or hire it out entirely.

There is a local company that has a pipeline with gap lending needs from borrowers on seconds, but I think sitting around and waiting to place capital is probably sub-optimal even if I can get premium yields.Having access to liquidity helps some, but I understand this is harder for fund managers to offer. 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) seems to bring up a lot of unknowns to many investors who are interested in building their website and online presence.

Check out the book "Optimize Your BNB" by Daniel V.

If you use a local management company, do you loose out on the search engine optimization for listing your property? 

So, self-managing may not be the best choice unless you are going to be able to dedicate the time to initially set up the property, get good vendors in place, and optimize your digital presence on all the booking sites.