We started 5 years ago and we have 3 properties that are short term rentals that we manage remotely 7 hours away.We decided we wanted to do short term rentals instead of long term because they seem to have higher cash flow, and we were willing to accept the additional work and risk involved with them.Some advice to consider:- To help sleep better at night, go into your first deal with some additional emergency savings for anything unexpected that you didn't consider.- Purchase unique, vintage, higher quality furniture on Facebook Marketplace, estate sales, and garage sales instead of buying cheap stuff from the big box stores.- The automation services such as Hospitable, Pricelabs, etc. are worth it in my opinion

The systems roof, hvac, plumbing, etc are expected and add 0 value to a sale but save you from home inspection surprises, or lower than market offers. 

Which was surprising since on the podcasts it would say you'd have to send a lot more!

I'm surprised I didn't wake up covered in bugs. 

Add in money to cover the expenses for a few months if it is vacant or you have unexpected repairs.

I'll be honest, I would spend zero time working on a file that I knew had been double escrowed like this and I'm pretty surprised to hear that these two guys don't care and want the loan that bad in this environment when every broker's phone has smoke coming out of it LOL. 

No surprise there.  

Properties in those cities might hold their value better.Finally, my conclusion might surprise you.

(think unexpected major plumbing service connection problems or the ever dreaded foundation 'issue'). 

It's been surprisingly reliable.Love your blueprints!