After all, who is the most motivated seller in any market?

In my market, if I do not remove contingencies or change the standard agreement I have 17 days to pull out for whatever reason I desire.  

(From there find an agency that specializes in the type of project you are looking for, set up Zillow alerts and watch- understand the market you are diving into so you can spot a deal, a good agent should do this for you too!)

Are there strategies for furnishing or marketing it as an MTR/STR that will enhance the chances of it being booked?

Leveraging Seth's local market expertise, we quickly evaluated the property's potential.

That seems pretty low, though I don't know the market.

It’s a part of the state many investors stay away from because they don’t know the market, if you’re from the area and know it well this could be advantage for you!

What ever I can about the real estate market in NZ to be able to understand advavntages, disadvantages, know where to find information and so on.

If you want to work with investors I would invest into cold calling to find deals and then sell them off market to investors.

I have owned a SFR in Jackson for about a year and a half and have been trying to understand the market.