Thank you Jim and welcome to the community as well sir, hopefully we both will gain the the learned experience through others in being able to thrive in Real Estate Investing for years to come. 

Bullet Points for St Petersburg:Short term rentals (anything less than a month) are technically illegal, but...Code enforcement only enforces this on a "by complaint" basis.The City can't change this law in any way (in either direction) without risking losing the ability to regulate short term rentals altogether, so...We have a thriving Air BNB "black market", but it's inherently risky and you should not base your long term cash flow numbers on this model...the smart strategy seems to be get it while you can, but be prepared to quickly shift to a long term rental strategy if you get busted. 

@Shaun Sullivan obviously I don't know your market but here in Oregon I absolutely thrive on the rural areas.

They make or break a deal, make you money, brake you, make you thrive in real estate or quit real estate.

Powder Springs is thriving and a lot of well priced properties.

You have Georgia College and Georgia Military College which keeps the downtown thriving with students. 

So I am new to RE, still doing a ton of reading and learning but I know I can thrive in this business, the problem is getting started.

A lot of people thrive on contact and interaction here and some should chime in for ya.  

I'm not sure that looking at the needs of college students is a bad idea as VT is thriving, but as with all of our investments, I would consider other options in the event the college scene does change.

Someone getting into REI using the STR to create a positive cashflow can only expect (2) as a natural result, not only from the community taking action against businesses operating in residential neighborhoods, but also economic reversals where the travel industry takes a hit.BTW: Tourism has been with us since the automobile and communities thrived a long time before the advent  of STRs.The NIMBY principle is heavily at work on this subject and historically, has been effective and successful in managing change.