I went the STR route for the potential outsized returns and the flexibility to own a fully furnished property that I could use in a city that I often visit.

@Serge Dulau something that has worked for me for house hack in San Francisco is renting out furnished rooms, I looked for house that I could split out into multiple units and rent them out with their individual entrances for 2-3 month leases

This is a good time to buy someone's fully furnished STR and rent it as a mid-long-term rental.  

Start by looking at comps on Furnished Finder and Airbnb to get an idea of the demand and rates you can expect for a 3 bedroom and a 1 bedroom.

With MTR and STR maybe estimates of how much it would cost to furnish it, utilities, internet costs. 

We are curious if anyone on here as any experience in this area or Greater east Texas area on doing mid term rentals. we see there are tons of them on furnish finder but worried that since there are so many we may have a problem with making a return on investing in our property but I feel like we would be doing good to at least test the market and learn the Strategy by using our own property. thank you for anyone with any hidden gem advice for us!

Your cash on cash return can still look really good if you build a small 1/1 adu, furnish it and rent it out as an MTR. 

Would you furnish the space with anything or just leave it empty and let the tenant furnish it? 

We just bought an STR in Lake Lure and made several trips to Charlotte when we were furnishing it.

I master lease several units in Oakland to furnished rental guys.