Most people just use the term but there is association management, apartment/ Multi-family management and then property management.For instance, in Florida, you need a license to practice Association Management (in most cases) and a real estate license to practice property management (in most cases). 

Quote from @Matthew (Mateo) McDaniel: A hard money lender is typically used for short-term loans.

Hi community,I'm planning to house hack in Richmond or Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania and am considering renting by the room using short-term, mid-term, or long-term strategies.

You should get tons of interest from there, as long as it's in good shape and not way overpriced.

In general, what is the strategy for choosing rental terms in the current market?

They are serviced with a note/contract servicer which holds the original docs, receives and dispurses pmts, does the tax reporting and enforces the terms like late fees, early payoff penalties,  interest-only end dates, etc. 

All of my tenants are long term tenants and my property is managed by a property management company.

You lease it for whatever you advertised it for on the initial term and jack it up to the maximum a year for now when they renew.

Why do you think purchase contracts are so long and have such small print?

I believe this is a game of being patient --- long game of 5-10 years to see cashflow especially if you are financing.