I have always bought the regular way- with an agent (or representing myself in the state in which I am licensed), on market properties and fair negotiations. 

I just realized after trying the crappy driving for dollars app on the play store, that Google has a Timeline feature.If you have your map open and press Go, it will track where you went and you can go back and look it up later.While driving, you can click on the houses you find and "Save" them to a "List" you create which will show the street view and you can even add you own current photos.Who knew?

I'm not an agent, but the lack of investment-savvy agents in my market comes up regularly at my meetup.

No saving or storing anything is required on the part of the landlord. 

There is furniture and stuff in the way and you may miss things, plus they could do damage between when you did the inspection and they actually move out.If they are moving out at the end of the month, tell them you can do a pre move out inspection, but put it in writing that as their belongings are in the property, you may miss things.the link provided earlier for California, says you can do an initial inspection, but it is also followed up by a regular inspection after they move out. 

With regular real estate, escrows with retail buyers fall out all the time and is expected.

,,I suppose there are some regular neighborhoods where a STR would work, but why are people coming?

Get your furniture from thrift stores in nice neighborhoods (good quality, medium price) so you don't care when it needs replacing.It's totally fine to move the booking off Airbnb and book a guest directly (just don't double book yourself).

You’ll also see that various potential investors will start reaching you out regarding investment opportunities once they see you posting regularly about Real Estate on your social media.

We've already agreed on rates, and I'm going to ensure all the paperwork protects me just like it would any other lender (proper contracts, personal guarantee, etc)The part I'm unsure of is what type of entity it should be under, just a regular LLC?