I do drive all day and have notice lots n lots of open leases, vacant businesses,properties for sale, apartments for rent. this looks dangerous like everybody is leaving somewhere else.

If you get it and buy one a year, then too often I see that the basic knowledge gives the investor beer glasses....they know just enough to be dangerous and they get circles run around them in too many cases.If you're going to buy 10 a year...and be pretty active buying and renting...and maybe selling a few or more for friends, families, other investors...then it might make sense.You can still take the classes and get the knowledge without getting your license. 

Here are some considerations to help you evaluate the lender's advice:It might be dangerous to rely on future gains to make up for negative cash flow because it is difficult to forecast the performance of the market.

People who don't live down here couple these together but there is a lot of history and they have distinct names, so it's good to know the differences when investing down here. 

Attorney opinion letter of title + seller finance + general warranty = I was pretty well covered… except for having to handle the litigation personally.My point was more about the danger of assuming nothing would arise now because it hadn’t in the past 20 years. 

@Nicole LockwoodNo real distinction between buying an STR property and just ... buying a property in general.

Not only can they be dangerous, and a maintenance headache, a lot of tenants have no idea how to use them and will shove anything that fits in the hole into the disposal.

I know enough about that end of lending to be dangerous..

Your CAP rate will be dangerously inaccurate if you calculate expenses incorrectly so let's break those down.Utility Set-up- As an overview you need to know the difference  between city-provided utilities and onsite such as Septic Tanks with Leech fields, lagoons, Wells, EtcGetting more specific what utilities are maintained by the community, paid by the community vs the tenants.I will give you a quick example, I own a park with a bunch of multifamily manufactured units of which I pay the electricity bill.

If you need it to be STR to cash flow that can be dangerous.