The inspections can be pretty frustrating, but guaranteed rent for that asset class is valuable.

After that, no guarantee as to the increase.Is this normal or is that a red flag?

He then added, with a 1% annual expense ratio that most advisors charge, that return over the same time period would have been cut in HALF. 

Not to expand on the "family dynamics" but I would personally be concerned about having to deal with family requesting access to the property for periods of time as well.

Not sure if a resi inside a commercial enterprise would be the same but it certainly could be.  5 years goes fast and  refi's are not guaranteed.  

It's also important to keep in mind that every additional rental property you own is another potential source for legal trouble, so if you grow to a certain size, it's almost inevitable that some tenant will get a valid reason(such as falling through a porch you didn't know was recently termite infested) to sue you over a 10 year period.

Look at the data over a long period of time.

Initially the profit was not that much higher on the STR than if it were a LTR and we had periods (including the Great Recession) were we converted back to LTR during the school year and only STR during the summer.Today the STRs are virtually 100% occupied year round and bring in significantly more than they would as LTRs. 

Just keep educating yourself, keep becoming more self reliance and the better you do at that, I guarantee you it won’t be as much as a “hinderance” as you suspect it is.

@Alf Holst strange... carpet padding is far too thick and the planks (if they're click type) will separate when walked on for any period of time.