(Obviously it's not optimal...)Is it a good plan to go to school for business management and Real Estate?

There are plenty of tips and tricks out there but in the end for STR's it all comes down to creating a valuable experience for your guests....all success flows directly from that but you can certainly increase your bottom line by optimizing processes and reducing costs when possible.  

Granted this is a deferred tax strategy vs an optimization strategy, but the end effect is pretty similar if you plan to expand your rental portfolio in the future and pass on to later generations.  

A good dynamic pricing utility like wheelhouse or pricelabs can optimize price and minimum stays throughout the year.

Change the properties of QuickBooks1.Right click on the icon for QuickBooks.2.Left click on Properties.3.Left click on the Compatibility tab.4.Check the box next to Disable display scaling or Disable Fullscreen Optimizations on high DPI settings.5.Click OK.6.Open QuickBooks and check to see if the windows are visible.NOTE: If the user continues to have issues with their QuickBooks installation, refer them to QuickBooks technical support.REFERENCE:QuickBooks Knowledgebase Article ID HOW13289 - Correct QuickBooks display issuesArticle ID: SLN297931Last Date Modified: 09/20/2017 12:30 PM

It seems to me like the HELOC would be better for short term usage, such as repairs on properties, or flips, but less optimal than a traditional mortgage for long term buy and holds. 

For example, I purchased a list from List Source a few months back and at least 30% of the mailers were returned.I'm sure someone has a way around this or a way to improve their rate of returned mail but I don't want to spend the money to figure out how to optimize someone else's list. 

For example, I purchased a list from List Source a few months back and at least 30% of the mailers were returned.I'm sure someone has a way around this or a way to improve their rate of returned mail but I don't want to spend the money to figure out how to optimize someone else's list.

@ Gary Clisele - investing with a syndicator/lead investor is the optimal passive investment IMO.

Unless you are on the cutting edge of something new and you are able to streamline and market your website to keywords that are up-and-coming, or there are no competitors (not likely) for the words you're optimizing, it's a waste.