I did the NC property out of state and was not happy about the returns so future ones will be in my backyard only.  

It added far less value than the cost of the addition.  

Glad to have you on the forum, Elwin! 

A lot were doing air bnb up until the new rules came in place for the city of San Diego but you can still find a property outside the city that you can potentially do STR with to cash flow. 

Being a realtor, you already know the area, you know contractors and you know what's happening in the city.

The team is the most important part.

On the advice of the fireplace guy who did our last cleaning/inspection, we sanded down the brick inside and painted it with the high heat black paint, and it states in the lease that they may use a fireplace-style candelabra if they'd like, but any other use will trigger all the rules in the Fireplace Addendum.   

I had a new tenant move in and about 3 weeks later say the sprayer on the sink was broken.

Managed to steer clear of the fraud in Metro Detroit, but did get interviewed by the FBI once.

I use a Netflix and a HULU account specifically for the STRs.