A portfolio lender may decide considering interest rates, but a note under servicing that has been sold will get tripped by the servicing requirements, not interest rates, a servicer may have no choice and they aren't getting the interest rates the bond holders are, or the holder of the note.

Booking a trip for early November and the STR listing prices are noticeably lower. 

A trip once per year can consume quite a bit of the cash flow.Good luck

Came back from the trip and slowly started back up.

Im fortunate enough that my success allows me to take 6 trips a year.

I made offers on literally 20 units, made 40 trips from Tampa out to Indian Rocks (which is over an hour each way for me).

IMO, if you focus your business on investing in properties that have staying power, you'll do just fine this year: i.e. aren't overly trendy in the sense that it would require regular updates or paint jobs, market to a specific core audience that your neighborhood hosts often [i.e. families, spring breakers, wedding guests, business trips, etc.] has the right amenities for the location, has good photos/descriptions, doesn't "surprise" guests when they arrive, and has a reliable hosting with high-quality communication.

This should take the guesswork out of it and you may be able to use the trip as a write off.  

We plan on making a trip to meet them to setup and decorate.Over this Labor Day weekend, we rented a small Penske truck and delivered an assortment of supplies we've been accumulating for the house (decorations, smaller pieces of furniture, dining chairs we bought locally, a dining table we built, etc). 

Each time we had a performance review, I won trips and rewards but they kept increasing my quota, without raising my compensation.