Being an experienced host with 100s of reviews helped these units rent faster on the STR platforms.

Maybe that's just me being paranoid, but I've always turned away all off-platform offers. 

You’ll most likely say you found it on Zillow or some other online platform, not really sure why that one property is of interest, that you’ve been browsing the internet for months, nothing seems to make sense and that you just want to make an offer on that one property.

Essentially, the idea is that if someone knows what they are doing and has economies of scale/experienced/rep on the platform, they should be able to hit the ground running and meet or beat AirDNA

My reasons for writing a blog are:- developing confidence & writing ability- putting yourself out there for potential partnerships and deals- documenting your journey for your own reflection and growth (“deal diary”)- owning your platform (posting on forums like this offers the same benefits but you don’t really own it - more potential in the future if you develop a website of your own)I might be missing some other reasons but overall if you are a quick on the keyboard (another skill to develop), it isn’t a major time commitment and can certainly create opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be available.  

Does airbnb have a built in liability waiver that guests agree to when renting STRs on their platform?

I wish the reply process was easier on this thing, more fluid like on social media platforms but oh well.

For STR, pretend you are going to visit the area next month, go to AirBnB, VRBO and any other platforms that are active in the area and look for a place similar to the one you are looking at buying.

STRs that are not the absolute peak performers are already having issues with vacancy, and AirBnB recently changed their platform so that only the absolute cream of the crop units (five star resort-level luxury units with thousands of perfect guest ratings) are getting promoted.In a nutshell, STRs are a lot more work, require a lot more expertise, and are a lot less reliable/secure than traditional long term rentals (all other things being equal).Plus, house hacking a long term rental will give you invaluable experience in how to analyze, acquire, and a manage a property that you can then apply to doing a STR in the future (if you decide you want to go that route).Start with the strategy that is the easiest, simplest, and most likely to succeed (house hacking), and then gradually build up to more advanced strategies (like STRs, BRRR's, etc.) as you gain experience.Good luck out there!

It's a free platform for users.