STRs, in particular, are closer to running a hospitality business than a passive investment, with constant guest turnover, cleaning coordination, and regulatory risks.

@Sarah Hadassah Negrón so you get a money judgment.Now you have to turn that into a garnishment action with the courts.To do that, you typcially need to have the tenant personally served - which means finding them or hiring a skip-tracer to do so.Then, what are you going to garnish?

If you fix the inside of the house spend a bit of money on the outside. you don't have to break the bank but make an effort.  

I've got perfect feedback and great guest reviews on my STR but I'm better at running LTR.

We remedied the situaiton by installing 1 mini-split on the lower level.At another ranch house with boiler heat, which the previous owner had updated with a newer high efficiency unit shortly before our purchase, we added central air with the entire unit and all the ductwork in the attic. 

If you see a pro-forma and they have to use short term, debt, floating debt, etc. to make something look good then might think of running fast.Just like house flipping there are times in cycles when anyone could make money and other times when it takes someone long time in the business to avoid pitfalls.

From your short introduction, sounds like you are ready for the task.  

They snuck under the rules by claiming that private individuals had the right to offer other private individuals the service.So again, how do these cities get away with regulating people's abilities to rent their homes on a short term basis? 

If they are nice enough for AirBnB, then you are probably ok there as well since the stays will be short. 

It won't take much money to purchase something that makes sense.Use the remaining money to invest long-distance.