Curious if you decided to buy an STR, and if so, where?  

Not all of them have millions to buy a house.

they'd be better off just buying the property themselves and hiring a PM.  

There usually is a clause in most agreements that the PM gets to charge a commission if the tenant buys the property.

Investment Info:Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

As a result assets will continue to appreciate.Using someone else's money allows you to leverage and buy assets NOW that will continuously go up in value, as well as increase a cash on cash return for yourself over time.

Tons of investors are buying Columbus up!

As a starter, I recommend reading “Long-Distance Real Estate Investing: How to Buy, Rehab, and Manage Out-of-State Rental Properties”(if you still haven't). 

First, I'd recommend getting to know what different avenues you have such as wholesaling, buy and hold, developing, "house-hack", etc and seeing what you're comfortable with.

So if you want to buy a house to live in as an owner occupant, you have to get the tenant's permission to buy it (and to sell it).