Price and rent increases in such locations were driven by actual demand, not by pandemic effect or speculation.

See the table below for ten cities (among many) where prices are falling.All of these cities had COVID-driven price increases; the market drivers were unchanged from before COVID.

Many OOS investors set themselves up for failure because they don't truly take the time to understand:1) The Class of the NEIGHBORHOOD they are buying in - which is relative to the overall area.2) The Class of the PROPERTY they are buying - which is relative to the overall area.3) The Class of the TENANT POOL the Neighborhood & Property will attract - which is relative to the overall area.4) The Class of the CONTRACTORS that will work on their Property, given the Neighborhood location - which is relative to the overall area.5) The Class of the PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES (PMC) that will manage their Property, given the Neighborhood location and the Tenants it will attract - which is relative to the overall area.6) That a Class X NEIGHBORHOOD will have mostly Class X PROPERTIES, which will only attract Class X TENANTS, CONTRACTORS AND PMCs and deliver Class X RESULTS.7) That OOS property Class rankings are often different than the Class ranking of the local market they live.8) Class A is relatively easy to manage, can even be DIY remote managed from another state.

It's been a change in demand driven by the pandemic.

My question is: How have other real estate professionals started doing this with AI or even virtual assistants?

Of course, we do have another game changer in AI. 

Personally, I have had friends use AI (Chat GPT) to build out contracts, however I want to make it clear I am not advising this due to the risk associated with errors in a legally biniding contract.

Now I know you are Chat GPT or AI or whatever it is, and not very sophisticated yet and there is no logic. 

There has been a huge increase in available STR units and this has driven down prices. 

You may have passed by it or even driven through it.