I personally use private investors to fund all my flip deals and bank financing for commercial buy and hold deals.

I tried to build up a relationship by making myself the problem solver but the house condition is rough.

Personally, I need to do more homework myself on the local STR part to see if numbers make sense.  

Did you buy your primary home plus house hacking it?

Is this a unique form of house hacking, where the rental income from our owned properties covers the rent of our new rental home?

I'm not familiar with how European real estate transactions work but personally know I would feel a lot better if there was a third party involved holding the money

Amenities are great...but IMHO, the main amenity is a nice, clean, warm, welcoming house with good coffee and a good bathroom.

I’m a very social person where I can have connections with anyone and who will respect me as a person.

I would guess between $600-$1,000 annually would be a good estimate for a rental house based on what I have in my portfolio... so I would decrease the $187/month to about $80-$100 per month.

Personally we wouldn’t want the tenant trying to find a new person to fill the lease, as we think we have a better idea of who we want from screening applicants and we have a way to advertise for them.