I don't see why you can't buy a business, make money from your business, and role it into a real estate deal to create long term wealth with tax benefits.That is what I ended up doing.

In Iowa the law was just passed that makes assigning contracts as a business model Illegal and the closing attorneys will not close those.This was a Wholetail deal  IE buy it trash it out and sell as is.

I'm seeing LOTs of FL and Smoky Mountain properties coming up for sale lately.

I highly recommend that you look into joining NARPM.org for up to date and local education.

The support system I have set up is Connecticut based in the Hartford County area.

And do I have to close this deal with short term private money lending first then get the equity partner in afterwards?

The potential NOI and cash flows seem to be roughly double what a comparable ‘vanilla’ multi-family would be at the same purchase price (such as a 3-unit apartment building).Many of the 14 bedrooms had not been fixed up in decades.

Newer isn't always better, and this picture sums it up pretty well. 

I have put up security cameras out front because of the neighbors.  

The only way a STR is grandfathered in, is if the property was already permitted and set up before the regulations went into effect.