I am pretty sure the law says I have to provide a home that maintains a temperature somewhere in the upper 60's, but that seems frigid.

I have been studying real estate investing for 12 years but only started doing it 1.5 years ago.

You are so much smarter than the dummies who have gotten their brokers license and actually studied real estate law. 

Also, I'm not convinced that I could maintain a steady 88-90% occupancy rate on the other islands like I do in Waikiki.

My guess is that you ARE grossing closer to 24% than 16% on the deals you close (or should try to be anyway), which means you ARE closer to maintaining 50% of the amount that is in it for your Investors (4% vs 8%), forever!

I try to go with the combination of something that looks good, but is easy to maintain/replace.

I'm studying information here to figure out a way to make the equity in my home useful in some way, and I hope that something I have already been through will be able to help someone else, too.

Honestly, every time I drive down a street that seems "expensive" where all the houses are impeccable and maintained, there is always one at the end of the street that has something going on with it!

It requires the landlord to maintain a "habitable" residence.  

I provided a study that included a guy who doubled the price of generators and went to jail after a hurricane.