Around this time I discovered Bigger Pockets and a bunch of real estate platforms online.

You will also discover the warranties don't cover as much as you think, and claims are often denied.Home warranties are so bad that most professional property managers will not manage a property with one in place.

I'm considering purchasing a condo or a small SFH in the Oceanside/Carlsbad area as an investment property and renting it out on a short term rental site like AirBNB. 

We have been in touch with a few investor realtors in the Knoxville area, which seems to be largely discovered now.

Consider different strategies like mid and short term rentals as I believe the Portland area would allow for success in both (although I have heard Portland proper is tough on STRs).Best of luck!

It's disappointing that you can't make it work with short-term rentals, as that should be much easier.

Unlike some buyers, I ALWAYS go look at the properties before the sale and discovered that the vacant lot had an active railroad track on it and therefore was unbuildable, and would remain unbuildable until the railroad removed their track. 

Airbnb is considered STR (short-term rental).

@Michael Klinger  As others posted, SoFi and Discover personal loans are good options and I've used them in the past.  2-3 business days from application to funds in my checking account. 

I hired my own expert and discovered these issues did not exist but that the expert the 3 buyers had brought in wanted to be hired to do the work so they blew them out of proportion.