If you want to buy a turn key to diversify and you can eat a 10k loss to get out and have 500k in the bank that is different.The problem I see is people take a large percentage of available cash or net worth and plop it down on these suspect properties with a high chance of failure.

Nobody will ever care as much as the owner does.To expect the property manager to in my opinion is unrealistic.If they are making checks off of sales or other residuals then yes the pot has been sweetened.If you have a newer or updated property that has an ideal tenant and the rent is high and in a nice area then yes management is not that hard.Many investors however want to buy these little dumper houses in suspect areas that cash flow well.These properties usually have deferred maintenance,a bunch of drama,and high turnover.These types of tenants income is usually erradic working multiple jobs or pooling with other people with jobs combined to pay the rent.

The tenants are very uncooperative when it comes to letting inspectors, appraisers and/or potential buyers in.A listing agent telling you that things fell apart a couple of times because of "loan contingencies" falling through sounds very suspect.

I’ve been googling and found the usual suspects of Destin, PCB, Orlando, Hilton head, outer banks, big bear, coachella/Palm Springs, Scottsdale, and Hawaii.

Having said that, my PM collects the rent and distributes to me after as well, so I suspect that is pretty normal practice.

I'm pretty new as an investor and happen to own both which I suspect is true of many investors who do venture into STR. 

If you're looking at an area where there are STRs, I suspect it wouldn't be that difficult to find the team you need.

I suspect every area possibly has a reason that makes it less than ideal for RE investing. 

I wasn't necessarily willing to buy a bad deal, but I suspect that with my personality, I would tend to err on the side of waiting too long.

@Bob Floss II That's what I suspected would be the result of not using an RE attorney.