Then go onto AirBnb and search for a 5 day stay at the times you are concerned about in a residence near yours.

I work with mostly primary residences for buyers, yet here is my list:1) Befriend a contractor and take them with you to give to you a rough estimate for a) livability repairs, b) updating, or c) to make it really nice.

I also have about 25k in equity in my primary residence (mobile home on 2 acres).

I feel I must correct myself I'm originally from Upper Marlboro, MD but I currently reside in surry va.

That is including my own personal residence.  

However, I live in California which is notoriously aggressive on this point (making any LLC owned by a California resident pay at an $800 LLC tax for "doing business in California" just by merit of living here), so my viewpoint may be skewed by that experience.

I currently live in Germany working under a 3 yr contract but would like to get into my first deal.  With technology being so prevalent, is it impossible to find and close on a deal completely online while only using ...

It's already automated for you.Yeah I put STR insurance on my condo and primary residence by calling my insurance company and asking if they were familiar with short term rental set ups.

In between that time, we also brought a 2 family home in Brooklyn, NY as our primary resident.

So this means we have no mortgage on our primary residence.