It comes back to what kind of property you want to manage and what kind of tenants you cater to, which will help determine market choice.We pick large luxury short term rentals in highly chosen vacation destination markets because that is our audience and we are better than the competition.

The language in the initial pitch was catered to a short term ‘corporate’ rental.

Just food for thought.

.* Multifamily/Apartment - Ditto* Co-work office space - They could run the day to day operations, and we could provide them a small apartment to stay in* SFH - We could help them get a place of their own so that they (well, WE) can stop paying another landlord rent and build equity* STR - There are a lot of opportunities for vacation rentals, but again it comes down to cash* Retail store - We could acquire a small business selling food, clothing, etc. 

This has everything to do with forcing everyone unilaterally to cater to unreasonable and illogical people who are now hiding under phobias after a massive 2 years fear campaign. 

I think a few even work at BiggerPockets.Second, you need to remove any source of food (things they would consider food) and water from outside your house.

Also if you are catering to the undergraduates add a lot more for maintenance and use tough materials (LVP, etc) to handle the abuse. 

Hopefully this gives you some good food for thought.

However dog stuff can attract rodents.Snacks like chew bones or rawhide or pig ears, open dog food bags or food left out in the bowl, dirty dog bowls especially if you feed wet or raw and leave scraps in the bowl etc are easy food sources for ants, roaches, rodents.If none of this is an issue it's more likely the rats found their way in and are munching on human food or trash and nesting in cabinets, furniture, etc.I can only give an opinion that the property owner should be responsible for making sure the house is properly sealed and safe.

Residents have it good here as far as weather, outdoor activities, and food!