@Yashar Fred most traditional rental investors that I know here in San Antonio are getting just over neutral cash flow in year one, when choosing areas where they expect strong rent growth and appreciation.

short term rentals are not only vacation homes, nurses, workers, consultants, family, etc. all use short term rentals in traditionally non vacation markets

Their parameters for qualification are totally different from traditional property investment loans.

Lastly, are there resources about FHA vs traditional mortgages in terms of expected returns?

Here's what we do (copied from our website):Screening ApplicantsPoor screening often results in lost rents, legal & court costs and costly damages.Screening of applicants includes the following:Full credit/eviction/criminal checks are done, instead of score-driven reportsVerification of rental history includes validation of actual property owner to avoid fraudVerification of stability of income & employment via YTD paystubs & W-2(s) (analyzed to confirm not fakes)Income is calculated 3 ways to spot stability anomalies: pay period, YTD average and YTD + W-2 average.Debt-to-income analysis (more accurate than traditional 3x rent requirement)Bank statement to see if NSF issues, if deposits support income, prove MoveIn Funds, also analyzed for unusual transactions.Pet screeningHolding Fee required from approved applicants to make sure they are serious, before your property is marked pending.

So, I expanded markets anywhere that I could self manage from San Diego, and after a few weeks of briefly studying all the markets within a 6 hour drive, I landed my focus on Bakersfield and finding deals in traditional multi family units that needed work and were severely below market rents. 10+ offers later on everything from FHA, conventional 4 unit, the seller financing route, 5+ unit commercial lending, I finally got an offer accepted as the 2nd offer weeks after it had expired.

Traditional rent would go for $650 but I estimate I'll pull in about $1,200 (gross) from Airbnb.I'm moving to California in a few months so I'll have to set up systems before I leave (cleaning, check-in, check-out, etc).

Traditional financing.

Go the traditional route to avoid points and fee's.

People will argue the pros and cons of this method, but it's the most important element of the business.