Feel free to reach out I would love to help in anyway possible on getting your business started, lending ect.

Ann Belamy's  BP 09  Hard Money Lending was a terrific introduction.  

They have a minimum of $500k loan amount and each property must have a minimum value of $50k, lend up to 70% or so LTV, 5- 10 year term.

IF it is an FHA you won't be able to do the repairs yourself, but if the bank you are using is lending for their own portfolio then they MIGHT allow it but that is something you will have to work out with them.If you want a list of FHA inspection standards you can just google it and several sources will come up on the first page. 

The hope is that we can keep repeating that until we either can't stand it anymore or the bank won't lend us any more money.

I am assuming there may be studies/research on the actual impact of such things by institutional money managers.

@Kevin Andujar you can put all of the locations under a single personal Umbrella policy as long as they have common ownership.If you go the LLC route, then your lending and insurance can get a little more complicated and costs will increase slightly.  

Then take all the profit and recycle that back into the down payment on a second property - possibly using asset-based lending.

Great question, I too am very interested in hearing from others as I'm also in a similar position as I'll be looking for STR lending soon. 

Also, you could do ask your real estate agent if they have any good lending contacts, you could probably get a non-conforming loan with a local bank.