Others may disagree, but I would highly recommend paying off all of our debt and increasing your savings rate before investing. 

Arguably, McDonalds could have charged much higher franchise fees and ended up in the same place financially.

I would prefer to self manage to avoid the high poperty management fees (I think its around 10% + 1 month leasing fee, etc.) and I also worry that the property manager will likely not be as dilligent in finding high quality affordable vendors, etc.I see 4 major pieces of work1) Tenant finding: I feel comfortable doing this remotely.

Since you've got a great source of income outside of that, you stand a chance, but the rates and terms you'll get from a bank or credit union for a non-owner-occupied investment property won't be as low as you think.

I was using PayPal, cause instant and no bounce but really high fees

A lawn service will also be able to validate your claim that the tenant is not watering appropriately, making the fee of neglect all that more legitimate.

There are markets that are very saturated with STR and with vry bloated prices and high interest rates it could be impossible to turn a profit at all. 

We would ask about why they were in town (since we were not a major travel area), and we would decline any suspicious stays (i.e. had someone ask about waiving the cleaning fee because they "were not going to sleep" there with their one night stay.)

(Quoted about 8.5% rate on a DSCR loan, and budgeting 10% of rents for capex, 9% for PM, and 5% each for vacancy and maintenance) After-rehab rents would be about 1350-1500 based on comps.

Additionally, there are often fees associated with belonging to an HOA, which can be an added financial burden.Ultimately, it comes down to your goals and deciding which choice will most effectively support them.