The magical power of a personal guarantee by an officer of the company is that it aligns the spending preferences of the company with those of the guarantor, which will just happen to align with your preferences.Truly an amazing power, in my opinion.

If I'm going to meet investors in person, it would need to be at a real estate meet up in a group setting or after lots of calls/Zooms.

I did some brrrr’s out of my geographical area a couple years back, and I’m starting to regret it.For one a person is at the mercy of the Contractor long distance.

This is one I was personally involved with.

My goal, while still new to the platform and the journey, is to pick up "grunt work" from experienced investors, in hopes of learning as much as possible as early as possible.Thanks,

If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing.

I personally don't like STR's because they are more of a business than an investment(in my opinion).You didn't mention the amount of hours that you and your spouse work but I would have to assume it be between 1900 to 2200 hours assuming you work 48 weeks and between 40 to 50 hours a week.If you buy a STR and self-manage it, you are added 200-300 hours per year in additional work making your life more stressful and less time to do things that you enjoy.Best of luck. 

That sounds like a well-considered plan, and visiting in person is a great first step.

@Jerrell Sweeting   I know in NJ this was the difference between eviction(tenant) and ejection (just a " guest, no money agreement) of a person.   

Then you use those on your personal taxes.