I'm also concerned about the liability that I might be exposed to here by allowing what appears to be a business to operate out of my rental.

"I actually think renting a place will get me started"If you are talking about being a tenant yourself and operating a airbnb in your rental apartment don't hold your breath.

How about the simple obvious that the inputs to deliver the service/product have a base-line and market prices have, OBVIOUSLY, been at about as lean of operating profit margins as can be. 

I know if I were to send an operating agreement to a lender that reads "LP member will receive return of their capital and 20% annualized return" they would not approve the loan.

Alt lenders will normally be higher on fees, rate and perhaps leverage at time of close but that's not always indicative of cash required to operate. 

However, there are small parts of "Clearwater" that are unincorporated and therefore legal for 1 night stays, opening the door for successful operations. 

A good rule of thumb is to keep 3-6 months of operating expenses in your rental account as a cushion.Once you’ve got that covered, you can start investing the excess.

There is a lot of inventory in Jersey City, so compared to the rest of the state, there are opportunities there for good STR operators.

Do what you say you're going to do, on the seller side and your buyer side.I've done acquisitions for a few years now and I understand how to analyze and close deals pretty good along with having a fully operational running business (from TC, dispositions, etc.) to handle new contracts and get these contracts to the closing table. 

I'm paying about 2k/month in JUST INTEREST. it brings in about $1300 and I live there with 2 roommates and operate my business out of it.