Are you not charging the guests a cleaning fee?

Get a good cap rate basically covers your financing and ideally 20% more for maintanance, prop management fees.

These platforms typically have billing policies where you pay a per unit fee per month to the software and you get regular updates and support each month.There are a number of low-cost platforms available that are able to offer you a lower price by passing along some of the costs to your tenants (payment processing fees, applications, tenant screening, etc).

I would push for very low or no money down but having a Realtor that needs to have their fee paid it may still not work.Look up the owner if possible through truepeoplesearch.com and call them up directly.

Are there specific factors you look for in an area to make sure it’s a good fit for this type of rental setup?

I've walked through a property with a wholesaler and when I walked in I told him the ceiling height here is a big factor for resale and I can't use the comps he sent me.

I own a small multifamily commercial in Albuquerque and can confirm the diversity of the economic and cultural factors that you mentioned. 

We measure against 15 different factors.

Not sure your situation financially but even your $100,000 HELOC is going to probably run you $12,000 additional each year in expense that you've got to factor in.

I have done some research, but I’ve found that many mentors and coaches are asking for significant fees, which feels like a large financial commitment, especially as a newcomer to real estate investing.