@Jedd Braunwarth, You are right that there is some degree of hands on required to succeed in self storage but that is true of any investment.

So to the degree you can narrow down your buy criteria, the better off you're going to be.

I suspect they are going to approach logs with some degree of skepticism, especially when you are working 2,000 hours W2. 

A franchise is only "worth it" to the degree their systems are outstanding and can guide you through the process of acquiring and managing the doors.  

A common metric they'll look at is your Global Cash Flow/DSCR which will be affected by your cash out refinance (higher mortgage payment than you've had in the past. 7.

And of course there are always full doc options that the entire global cash flow is taken into account not just the individual property.

There is a small group of locals who are anti-STR but the good majority are pro-STR due the the fact that STRs bring a ton of revenue for local businesses and jobs for locals.Regarding summers, the temperature is the hottest in August and can get up to 100 degrees so STRs with pools do better in the summer.

Yes, maybe to some degree, but this isn't fake mortgage fraud value either. 

Your exit price on 2-4 units will always be dictated to a great degree by your cashflows, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, so long as rents have increased.

After seeing several "market crashes" of varying degrees, an experienced lender will not lend 100%..particularly on a non-owner-occupied investment.