You can do DSCR loans or Hard money loans, where they only focus on how well the subject property performs in terms of the rental aspects or the ARV aka after repair value.

If you do this you'll have a huge pile of money that will allow you to pursue whatever strategy you want very quickly.If I had to do it all over again, I would buy a personal residence as soon as I could, probably house hack, then buy a new personal residence as soon as I had the money for another down payment then turning the old house into a long term rental.If you're just starting I'd also recommend listening to the Bigger Pockets and Real Estate Rookie Podcasts.

Prepayment penalties- usually 1-5 year terms.

New to the forum and new to STR (Lots of long term experience), thanks all for the community.  

Quote from @Benjamin Cuddy: Although the term "trust fund" is used, this isn't an actual trust fund.

If Buyer obtains a loan for any part of the Purchase Price of the Property, Buyer acknowledgesthat any terms and conditions imposed by Buyer's lender(s) or by CFPB Requirements shall not affect or extendthe Buyer's obligation to close or otherwise affect any terms or conditions of this Contract."

My ultimate goal is to have $10k net cash per month from my long term rentals.

Most of the points you're making are making relate to that.Yet, your post was about a short-term rental or about an investment property.

They share a lot of similarities in terms of price point, both for your purchase as well as your rents, they are attractive to renters and first time home buyers because of their affordability relative to the rest of the county.  

We're going to start the mid-term rental route for our unit upstairs.