To make a long story short - I had a tenant that had a living situation turn sour and she kicked her boyfriend out in February.

I would be using it as a short term vacations rental.Hmm, yeah, I guess I am thinking of the option wrong. 

that's our way of giving back.. directly. so in short  the govmit  be it city county state federal / and big banks and Bond companies have to lead the charge for affordable housing.So take what I face as a small home builder building 30 or so homes annually for fair market prices.its rare that we have a parcel that all in buying the land putting in all the UTLS  paying for all the permits etc we are less than about 125k before we put one foot on the lot to go vertical.. so in our markets affordable housing is right at 350k and up to 400k. 

Shell I consIder buying a short sale house with out any interior access?

Properties that are in actual foreclosure are not for sale unless you're working on a short sale.

Her's a short list (there are others):Bigger Groups:Propelio - probably the most popular group currently. 

I'll be short and sweet as I imagine there are tons of new Intros every day here.

What have been your hardest lessons learned in short term rentals?

owner finance with short term balloons for someone who cannot substantiate very strong financials today is highly unlikely to pay you off.the only way I have had this happen.. is relative came up with the doughor in one case my lessee worked for a company that converted ownership to all employees and they got about 600k in stock which they sold and paid me off ( 300K) 

And @Dave Van Horn has a fund or some version of NPN and performing notes. 3. you can invest with your local HML ( hard money lender) who will be doing short term 24 months or less rehab loans.4.