Egos abandoned prior to a reply post even being typed.  

My primary concern is the changing nature of renting a unit in a building whose units are being converted to day rentals, comparable to Airbnb.

My first rental was likely overpaid for back in 2007, I still own it, still makes money, and by this point I'm now clearing $300/mo net compared to next to nothing early on, simply due to the 9+ years of time between then and now.

There's definitely a price point sensitivity that may be making your townhome model so effective down there that would have to be compared to available options up here.  

By doing so you will get much better returns on your money compared to what you been getting over the last few years and you will also minimize your risk since your investment will be secured by real estate.

yes, a fork from OpenOffice :)   I've dealt with software versioning for decades and as the MS *.doc is the comparability standard, moving off OO will be trivial if/when than becomes necessary

You can pay him at the closing, usually with certified funds if you do not have a previous relationship with him, or you can simply purchase his agreement prior to closing and you are the party executing.  

I may be selling myself short but prior to getting loans or jumping to commercial properties I feel like I would be most comfortable starting out with SFH's and paying cash.  

The US government has is own calculator to compare the daily APOR and the rate you want to charge to a homeowner so that you can stay within, or know what category, you loan is falling under.

I have no prior real estate training, but am the product of those who have reasonable success in this arena.