But I think you can have both the ease of entry on the Sched E and keep your 45 day list under 4 properties.If those 4 properties are being purchased from one seller under one contract with one closing you could treat that as a portfolio and all 4 individual units could be treated as one for purpose of identifying them for your 1031. 

And it was explained how, if I were very computer savvy, I could probably build my own CRM and where to look for all of the data.  

This information should be current and include historical data.

I was definitely thinking it’s not the best location for STRs, but I did pull some Airbnb data and noticed some successful ones in the area, but not many.

It's worth studying data to make sure you're using real numbers and trends to make that decision. 

I've only been using for Onyx hunting, but it gathers the you the data you need to reach the owner in most cases.

I would agree with you that 1200 is high given the data you shared.  

You can combine data from the Revenue and Occupancy charts to come up with something like the picture below.

More buyers in the metro areas, Omaha for one is seeing a bit of a tech boom getting new Amazon, Facebook, and Google data centers. 

I live in New York City and the entry level for anything here is way above my possibilities.