By my understanding, Fannie/Freddie requires that you "intend" to live in the property for one year.

California Civil Code Section 1710.2 Well, it's required, but it's not:"No cause of action shall arise against an owner or his or her agent or any agent of a transferee for not disclosing facts pursuant to paragraph."

I mean once you talk to them, it's pretty easy to spot if they know what they are talking about.I've work on STRs before and to be honest, it is not the most fun aspect of accounting because the volume of allocating income from all sources (airbnb, vrbo, stripe, direct booking, and so on) to a bunch of random expenses (cleaning, supplies, repairs, advertising, commissions, and all typical real estate expenses).I had to strictly rely on the client's input on what the expenses belong to which property or even units, if the paperwork doesn't say. 

The money needed for these properties would regularly require a greater than 8% return in other investments to receive the same cash flow if paid off.

These buildings are zoned like hotels and have all the requirements you need to rent and make money accordingly. 

I'm learning a lot of painful and expensive lessons.

The rates don't make sense for refinancing, and I don't believe in selling unless I can move the money to an investment that moves me closer to my goals or life changes require me to sell.

The expense factor will be dictated by your line of work. 

Currently occupied by a section 8 tenant on a year to year lease. currently paying $1805Cash flow = $800- I left out some CapEx expenses in the report, as this is a newly renovated home, but will account for everything once I dive deeper into this potential investment.

My total hard money payment was 12k and I was talking in a bit more than 20k but my other expenses were high.