Hey everyone, I’m new to the STR space and have been studying it pretty consistently since August. I’m really interested in building a short-term rental business and I’m trying to choose the smartest first step. Right now I’m leaning toward starting with an arbitrage unit just to dip my toes in, get hands-on experience, and prove to myself that I can run a successful listing. My biggest hesitation is that my closest profitable markets are about 3 hours away from where I live, so I’m figuring out whether that distance is going to make things harder than they need to be for a first deal. I’m here to learn, connect, and get advice from people who have been through this stage. If anyone has experience with: • managing a unit several hours away • starting with arbitrage vs. co-hosting • picking the right first market I’d love to hear your perspective. Looking forward to being part of the community and learning from you all. Thanks!