Greetings BP Community from the frozen lands of Soldotna, Alaska. 

Hey Daniel, first off welcome to the community.

Happy to be helpful if I can, since you are a BP community member :)

I had scraped and struggled along until then and I was just exhausted from the transient nature of the “gigs” I used to support myself up until that point .

There are good people who utilize supportive programs.

I've never really done a deep dive in analyzing the area because it is a retirement community, median income is very low, and there arent a lot of jobs in the area.

Even if these relationships don't go anywhere, you'll get a lot from just having a couple of calls.Next I would try to find some local investment groups/communities and try to chat with as many investors as you can to get an idea how other's started out in your market.

@David Young,  Welcome to the BP community and to REI.I have worked with a number of first time investors that use a HELOC to start their investing. 

Thanks for your support and justice will be done at some point.

Like many in the STR community we has switched our target from STRs to Boutique Hotel investing.