STR can be very lucrative but they can also be very management intensive and your buying criteria is really really important.

If you also factor in that most people judge their own capabilities vastly beyond their actual performance, then the better risk-adjusted choice would still be to fund your retirement account. 

Running a 3rd party management company is much more labor intensive than the management of your own propeties.

-When I sell the property, would I be paying a tax on the profit of the sale (sale price less adjusted basis) AND a LLC fee based on the sale price?

@Shane WardLove the intensity and drive.

I will adjust those.

The property must be owned in your name and not in a business entity (ie LLC).Portfolio loan: higher adjustable rate with less favorable terms (ie 5 or 10 years and includes a balloon payment).

Ask a business owner if they would take a 30 year fixed at 4.75% with no balloon and no adjustment. 

They are much more time intensive.

In CA the taxable rate is assessed at time of sale, and that tax basis is used to determine the taxes until the property is either sold or has permitted improvements (there is an inflation-adjusted increase allowed, but the starting # is the FMV at time of sale).