I have ~180k to play withThe first is a small turnkey small for $150k, already renovated that would yield 2k/m rent.

I imagine it's easier to book more nights per month in a studio or a 1 bedroom versus a 2+ bedroom, though a 2+ bedroom will yield more per night.Also, any thoughts on the viability of a short-term rental in SF versus Berkeley or Oakland?

I'm not sure how you could draw this up and protect yourself though from an investment perspective.If I was your friend, I would be looking at either a quad plex if its affordable to maximize the rent and have your own livable space or buy a place and rent rooms. 

As stated in my previous post, during my 50+ years of purchasing properties every real estate agent and broker only wanted to sell me any property that I would by and regardless of whether or not the property would maximize my ROI.

All that money is chasing yield.

I plan to hold the funds in a high yield saving account, continue reading and researching what's going on in my area, and planning to aggressively get a deal going this fall/winter.

Otherwise, when you leverage money to maximize the number of properties you purchase when things don't go as planned your empire comes crashing down like dominoes.If you have the cash, I have been looking at Texas for several years and the numbers look much better than Denver because you can control more properties for less money and the home prices have been steadily rising.

All that money is chasing yield.  

Self storage has been known as an investment vehicle throughout many years to yield great returns regardless of what which way the market reacts.A great investment through it all.

The harder something is to get into, the rewards are generally higher.Take a bond, super easy to buy but is yielding around 2% right now.