But your colleague may have been confused about Short Term Rentals (STR).

In short, the current PM ended up not having a valid broker's license to be operating as a property manager in the first place, so that's on me for not verifying ahead of time. 

We are now doing short term rentals but we're thinking about changing to a small wedding venue. 

Hello Tiffani Hollis, Congratulations on stepping into the realestate game.

Based on your advice to newer investors, should I play the long term game by paying off my house early (2030)?

If the tenant's concern is that their credit score would take a short-term hit from the credit report, then I think it is a legit concern (if their credit is slightly less than what it would be when they're trying to apply for new rentals, for example).

I've spent way too much money on them and their promises over the past 20 years, and lost too much in the game. 

Outside of real estate, I’m a huge sports fan, so you can usually find me glued to almost every game on the weekends.My interest in real estate began as I explored different ways to generate passive income, which ultimately led me to the BiggerPockets community.

I’m currently exploring the Short-Term Rental (STR) market in Ft.

@Shawn Questa I agree with you that there could be some opportunity here, but personally, with that little equity in the property, I'd wait for the pre-foreclosure process to start and  perhaps you can do a short sale (though I don't know the details on how that's handled in TX).