Zelle is pretty strict and I was never able to get it to raise limits enough for me to receive even a single payment.

Are you strictly looking for an equity raise? 

I mean once you talk to them, it's pretty easy to spot if they know what they are talking about.I've work on STRs before and to be honest, it is not the most fun aspect of accounting because the volume of allocating income from all sources (airbnb, vrbo, stripe, direct booking, and so on) to a bunch of random expenses (cleaning, supplies, repairs, advertising, commissions, and all typical real estate expenses).I had to strictly rely on the client's input on what the expenses belong to which property or even units, if the paperwork doesn't say. 

To my mind, strictly enforcing lease terms is closer to a last resort than a first option.

DSCR loans are strictly for business purpose use only and cannot be used as owner-occupied.

DSCR Loans are going to be strictly business-purpose 1st lien loans - so something like this with a closed end second or HELOC is going to be a different product entirely.

Making landlords more strict with whom they rent to.

So, the terms of your lease should be catered to that, with very strict insurance terms, personal guarantees behind any company signing your lease, requirements that lessee handles all repairs and maintenance, additional security deposits, and I would go so far as requiring minimum review quality for the host, limits on quality of guests they can accept, etc.And to your point about Airbnb not doing background checks, you are right.  

@John Michael RobersonI agree with @Kory Reynolds: tax-wise, it is a workable plan, as long as you are hands-off, which in technical terms is known as failing material participation.I would caution however against focusing strictly on taxes.

Each individual mountain town also seems to have more strict STR fees than other areas I've looked into.I know you already said you wanted to avoid CO, but just reiterating that it's probably wise to look elsewhere.