The natural amenities and their recent coming of fame has NWA seeing solid data to support STR's. 

You are not responsible to pay the commission as the seller and agents have a listing agreement that dictates how much that will be.That said, I'm assuming the seller needs a certain amount of cash at closing from you in order to pay the commission, so as part of your offer, you could ask the agent if they would take payments over time with a reasonable interest rate secured by the real estate and this would allow you to come to the table with less cash. 

@Michael Doughty I think @Julio Gonzalez has made some solid points here.

Thanks for the response, all of it was helpful!

What is "safe" or responsible to start?

Great question - I'll be interested hear the responses you receive.

We get lots of bookings from FF in Los Angeles over 25 properties, but the response rate is low.

I also believe opining on how a change of circumstances effects rights and responsibilities under a contract is a fine example of giving legal advice. 

With your savings and a solid income, you're in a pretty good spot to start house hacking. 

You will get responses based on each person's perspective versus your own Risk/Reward scenario.3.