Hey @Reuben Pena - Man I feel you as well - I have dealt with city violations personally and for many clients. 

Although I haven't personally enrolled in such a course, a single free webinar bridged crucial gaps for me to kickstart my business in the "arbitrage" route.For those inclined towards purchasing STR, I recommend exploring the offerings of the Short Term Shop.

Kyle, you are correct, you should not be responsible, but the fact is MN law requires you to pay unless you can show the bed bugs are a result of willful, malicious, or irresponsible conduct of the tenant or a person visiting the tenant, which is nearly impossible to prove. 

Problem is I don't want this attracting tenants who cannot pay, or making them think "who cares, I don't have a deposit to lose".What do you think about using this in lieu of a standard deposit?

House hacking will also give you some personal "property management" experience.

In my personal research, Houzeo seems to be a solid Flat Fee MLS Service, a good interface and online forms, no % of sale $ with Bronze plan, a site buyers may have heard of, and good reviews on Trustpilot. 

I personally wouldn't charge for any of that if they left the unit in good shape. 

@Shiloh LundahlTheoretically assuming properties were identical in every sense yes because I don’t need cash flow and would rather have the extra $100k in equity.Now $600/mo could get you another $100k mortgage to get you another property that could potentially also cash flow but for me personally I am in equity play mode now income mode - just my personal choice but nothing wrong with the other scenario

My worry with leaving the local agency is the personal attention that guests receive when they call.

If you're asking for free advice from a stranger on the internet, I'd encourage you to find a different STR market unless you want to have a place in Kissimmee for personal use.