Demand goes up, supply goes down, prices increase.Cost of buildingAdd to that the cost of materials and cost of labor (due to a lack of construction workers) increased the cost of building.

We are furnishing it with nice-ish furniture (West Elm and CB2.)

Looks like a good deal on some outside furniture for not a lot of dough.

I spent 5k in repairs and supplies for a Short term rental in the ADU.I got my return back and there is no mention of these expense anywhere.

This "can" be a problem if you're buying supplies and things on credit cards to fix the houses.

RE has many aspects (finance, negotiations, sales, marketing, dealing with tenants, accounting, technology, raising money, construction and more); I wish more beginners would take this approach.Tasks might entail anything from going to the property and taking pictures, picking up supplies, doing some admin work, marketing, website building/managing, social media, running initial comps, making follow up calls. 

Supply might be meeting current demand and/or buying a home is more attractive. 

The best way to go is to call local building departments, Tax Assessors, county clerks, experienced and successful real estate Agents/brokers, lumber supplying stores, local real estate associations, City councilors, or City Building Departments, Local popular newspapers, and popular cellphone companies. 

There's a small supply of MF properties, specifically 4-plexes, in the area that I'm looking in and I don't see much value-add from a buyers agent.

I have been working on making sure we have quality data supplied for our agents to be able to connect to the right people.