I'm also willing to take the risk and the time for either one , I would just really appreciate the suggestions from you wonderful people .Thank you so much .

I'm also willing to take the risk and the time for either one .

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

first you have to decide what you want to do in the note business.. what most of the responses are talking about is buying bad debt.. and 2nds at that which this is the most risky and the most work..if your looking for work and risk and job then that kind of note investing is for you.If your looking for Passive income with no work and Limited risk then you simply need to align with a great HML who takes on private clients or those that understand where performing notes are generated.. we have done over 1700 performing notes for clients that last 5 years and really don't advertise at all. simply because once you get conservative investors in your program it just feeds itself.. deal flow is the key right now.. most have a hard time finding quality. finding defaulted seconds is easy.. and the most risky. 

The only downside I see is that there is always a risk of him not being reliable and not performing the way expected.

Yes as you are finding out a lot of insurance companies avoid student housing due to the increased risk.

Then you refinance and repeat.There is a higher risk in doing it, because you never fully know the final cost of a rehab.

I had thought about looking into STR around me, but I'm a little risk adverse so I haven't pursued anything yet.

I'd also be interested to connect with investors who have units (SFR, Condos, Apts, etc) near the strip or otherwise that have gone the AirBnB route, and how feasible a motto this is.Are the prices in Vegas still good enough to provide good ROI and risk vs reward? 

Commercial lending can be scary and it has its risks.