I personally never explored them much.

You can properly operate the STR in your personal name to include the financing, proper insurance, etc. 

My personal opinion is owning your home outright is an amazing feeling and impressive feat.

I'm personally looking at the 2-4 space right now as I think there should be good opportunity there to make the numbers work in high-value markets

Even if the property is not currently on the market, it will show you a lot of info that I personally find important.

Other times you see a person do a single post and ghost their own post.I am in two other forums that are dead or dying.  

Has anyone hired someone on payroll to oversee their personal portfolio?  

100% funding is a thing, for example, if the home is $100K to purchase and the renovation is $75K a lender can give you the full $175K however, there are two things you'll need to be aware of 1) there's an option where the closing costs and fees will be much higher, OR 2) you could give your lender a percentage of the equity of the deal (30% - 60%) for a truly zero personal investment deal.

Quote from @David Tiefenthaler: Brandon is a great teacher and a good person, but that book teaches methods that are not good for investors and are more likely to get you in trouble.

The complaint was that we gave an apartment to a family and not her (single person).