One of my closest friends owns his own successful business.

Can't wait to read about more of your successes! 

Most people that successfully sublease to Airbnb offer the landlord above-average market rent and have a proposal.

My most successful method was with taking on a partner.

Will someone tell me exactly what I need to research, understand, and to take on myself, in order to make a project like this successful? 

There are a couple of Whole Selling BP podcasts with some really successful whole sellers, you can listen to them and take notes, they will normally talk about books that they read. 

I didn't think i could successfully pull off the "non-owner" ruse with having to remodel the unit and updating the tenants on a regular basis. 

Ian, keep at it and you will find the success you defined . 

Sounds like wherever I end up, almost regardless of the evaluation criteria at the state level, I can find success in a surrounding market, which will benefit me in a big way to be somewhat local to my investment market. 

We started a home renovation company and have had a lot of success over the past 2 years, but we have always had the goal of investing in real estate and recently decided to go for it.