Have fresh fish or rock crab claws.  

A big fish finds out that little fish are making lots of money a certain way and they throw all of their resources into that area to take over the market.

I appreciate everyone's comments and this has definitely broadened my outlook towards STR.

then, after many extensions, they may just take the house off the market, and return your earnest money.intuition tells me, they are fishing for more offers, shopping your offer around. 

I started a business (a fishing tackle company) and left teaching.

Ken,After you disclose an issue the buyers have what's called a "right to their own inquiry".What that means is when you disclose know facts when selling and the buyer is made aware of the fact they can investigate further.If the buyer chooses NOT to for saving money and wants to take the risk then it's on THEM.Remember anyone can sue for anything and doesn't mean they will win.Many times when they threaten a lawsuit they are fishing for quick money and to scare you.They probably found out after the closing that the problem is bigger than they thought to fix and now want you to pick up the tab.For a sewer issue all they had to do is get a plumber to SCOPE to line all the way until the street to find out exactly what the issue is.It could be tree roots,cleanout needs to snaked all the way until the street,etc.If you had a small pipe snaked and not the whole line that won't fix the problem it will usually just push the clog further down the line.No legal advice.

Looks like Homer has growing market, lots of retirees, fishing capital for travel and outdoor adventures. 

For "little fish" with just a few million to invest,  they seem far better than buying one or a few NNN properties, which puts all of your eggs in one or a few baskets.   

The most successful have door knockers in the neighborhood, often of similar demographics, to fish out deals.

If investing is like a big fishing net being trawled around the property ocean, your criterial, 1% rule etc would be the size of the holes in your net.