I would suggest you target a purchase price under $1M unless you enjoy subsidizing whatever friends out fed gov is funnelling money to this week.

Lastly try connect with local real estate groups and ask local investors what they are seeing in your target market and see if that aligns with your analysis. 

What metrics should we target to evaluate STR?

IF they are here for work, check the employer, and they should also have a social security number too...if they are here for school, confirm their enrollment. 

-Direct message ANYONE you see on social media who you'd like to connect with.

From what I see most people target a cash on cash return of 8-12% per year.

Pinterest, Houzz, & HGTV are a few points of reference to see what's going on with housing design in terms of trendy items as a whole, but I'd look at my target area for flips on the market and those that have recently sold. 

If you live in your target market than a very inexpensive way to generate leads for a novice investors is to Drive for Dollars.

I'd get going on a loan now.FWIW, a paid-in-full property is a target for a lawsuit, and well-leveraged property is much less attractive. 

What I did was used the Airdna date(grain of salt), but looked closely at active listings in my target area.