Unfortunately 10 units proved to be too much for my property manager at the time to handle, (a mix of them being bad at their job and also that they were just shady) which slowed me down and I had to do some damage control before buying more.But the mix of different strategies and partnerships for financing taught me a ton and helped me learn firsthand how they work, so I don't regret a thing!

Should be at least 10%.3) What about tenant damages and nonperformance?

Based on where you at now, paying off your mortgage and continue to grow steadily will easily get you there in the next 10 years with minimum stress and headache (minus WWIII happening, JK)If you are someone who are aspire to maximize growth, have a f*k you money and want to get into politics and expand your influences, and also prepared to embrace the headache and stress that come with that lifestyle, then you wouldn't want to pay off the mortgage but put your money somewhere else that would give you maximum return.

The house has been through two hurricanes now with no damage or flooding, so it is pretty low risk from that standpoint.

A tenant who fails to maintain a rental property could end up costing you more in property damage and court fees than the amount of rent they're paying you upfront. 

What if there are already damages to the property that you could have deducted and tenant keeps whole thing rather than submitting to new management? 

This also allows for property owners to more easily write-off assets that get damaged/destroyed as the value of these assets is determined as part of the study.

Aside from the obvious dangers, I’m seeking best practices and how experienced investors  in this area handle hurricane damage?

We feel this doesn’t protect us from tenant damage (e.g., stolen smoke detectors, fire extinguishers) or cover costs for anything beyond normal wear and tear.

AND with STRs you have no risk of evictions (which can get to be real expensive depending on the area)  and most damages that guests do are covered by insurance (either through the rental platform it was booked through or sometimes the property management firm has added insurance too).As someone that build a large long term rental portfolio here in Illinois (I still have 40+ houses here) and somebody now building a portfolio in tennessee, I would definitely recommend looking at new construction in some of these str areas.