My IRA is just a fail safe at this point and STRs are where wealth is built.

I am new to the industry but am focused on long term goals and wanting to build a team of reputable individuals where we can all bring each other value and make some great money together. 

No one is perfect, and we certainly have had times where we were not proud of the experience we provided to our guests.

@Mark WalkerI would look at most recent sales, and see where they traded.

There are some years, that income and expenses will be less than your budget and other years where it is more.If you have more properties, and have the property for more years, you will reduce the risk of outliers to your budget.

So if you're trying to learn ten, 15 markets, you're never going to reach critical mass in a market where you can actually start winning deals, knowing the market and so on and so forth.

I have seen cases where it hurt the value and in some cases where it helped rents.

I'm completely without knowledge of where to begin, if an experienced investor would like to take me under their wing I'm all for it.thanks

Tax strategy/Planning is where investors should focus IMO since you’ll get a tangible ROI.

I have never heard of any state where you cannot invest with a SDIRA account.