I would love to work side-by-side with someone with experience so I can gain experience of my own as I build my confidence in doing my own STR for an investor who may not have as much time running a STR. 

Does anybody have any experience with either?

Find and join a local REI or land lord Association and attend meetings to get local perspectives on markets, LL/tenant laws and experiences etc.Hang out here and search threads that may be relevant to you and your desires/needs.Decide on your objectives from investing, taking into account your resources from financial and time perspectives.

While my cash flow isn't amazing today, I'm investing in areas I think will experience appreciation and rent growth, and if rates do ever come down I'll refinance and be doing great. 

It was a good experience.....until today.  

I can barely get firms to look at columbus with 10x years of experience thats mostly for ground up. the average house cost is still less than 100k which means you have a lot of houses to tear down still to create a housing shortage. the economics don't make it favorable for any type of investing but turn key or maybe ground up in the urban core which works in any city. but compare any of these cities, I'll take Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis, and columbus and Milwaukee and pass on the rest. 

Probably need more information, especially regarding type of real estate investment because its going to definitely differ dramatically, some thoughts:-If its for a rehab "Fix and flip" - definitely more about value, experience, timeline-You are mentioning more about rental property metrics - if so, is this SFR or small residential or commercial? 

If you have experience with wholesaling, please let me know what I'm missing and need to add.

If it is on fix and flip you are looking at 10-25% down depending on your experience and ARV. 

It will need pretty much all the cosmetic stuff, but structural stuff seems not so bad from photos.