When I was negotiating a lot of short sales in Baldwin County for luxury beach properties owned by people with complicated financial lives, I did a lot of my own title research.

Maybe he will not leave town until check clears and instead of asking to stay over and save on a hotel he does not risk a no and just takes the lodging.

The truth is if you're not a cash buyer, you really don't get the luxury of a "quick closing once the property is identified". 

A lower end property will have high turnover and damage between tenants and a high end property will have longer vacancy periods before a tenant comes along with the income to support the luxury rent market (Luxury market is defined by drastically different numbers in different markets across the country).  

The RDPD philosophy is correct, in that money should be spent on income-producing assets rather than luxury items.Save the 50k and use it to buy houses, IMO.

Is it a full service PM (does the booking, dealing with tenants, tenant turn over (inventory, cleaning), pays any lodging taxes/fees, handles minor maintenance items (clogged pipes, broken door knobs, etc), financial statements ready for tax man)?

If you know it would be negative then I would buy slightly luxury house. 

Even if it a luxury (ours is not luxury lol) SFH, there are financial options available to leverage that can keep your RE momentum moving forward.

For example, I have a relationship with a luxury interior designer.

He was under the opinion that in a recession folks would think storage is a luxury not a necessity..