My goal is long term.

To me the biggest risk to STRs is the municipalities shutting down the ability for owners to rent homes out short term. 

So if you say got a 2-family in one of these towns, you could live in one side and then short- or mid-term rent the other side and max your income out there to pay down your mortgage.

The west coast markets have traditionally been appreciation markets, and if you are not forced to sell and can hold long term, risk diminishes.

In terms of the title, you can go in together and the loan can be under one or both people depending on qualifications.

Typically speaking a 2 bedroom will bring in more if all other metrics are the same (i.e. location and amenities).In saturated and competitive markets I really do not like 1 bedroom or even 2 bedrooms as the barrier to entry is low and you will always have a lot of competition, and you are even competing with hotels at that point.Also building HOA's are scary, and Florida implemented the milestone inspection which means special assessments in most cases.Without diving deeper on all the numbers I cannot it will not make sense, but in my experience it will not make sense more times than not and it is risky.

I'm going to sell one of my rental properties and offer seller financing with a 30-year mortgage term.

I am looking to build a SFR for short-term rental, would be my first-time new build.I have engineer plans for well and wastewater stamped by the state of VT for up to 4 bedrooms.

Obviously I don't have much to offer currently in terms of local knowledge but I love connecting and sharing info and plan to be a valuable and helpful part of the investor community there. 

The faster track on rentals  (cash-flow wise) is to do short term rentals like AirBnB, etc….