Did a lot of research and actually developed a couple web scrapers with the goal of finding under-valued military properties.Never amounted to much as we don't have teams or a presence near any bases.

You can make connections more efficiently by attending real estate networking events(local or national events).The reason that I meniton this is because being an agent will devote a lot of your time towards trying to get clients(selling a property or renting a rental). 

Took a break from expanding the portfolio to focus on solving some of the sourcing problems in this industry through web development.

I recently came across one of there web sites that had there address in Princeton, New Jersey. 

I think STR's as a market got over saturated where it became a race to the bottom.STR's are a partial investment partial business.I would not consider buying a STR unless you plan to go all in and acquire a bunch of STR's where you can devote all your time into the business.Those with full-time employment who can only spend a few hours a day can't compete with someone who has a team and deducating all their time to it.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is also investing billions in Ohio data centers, and Meta has a major data center in New Albany, too. 

Real estate is a time-sensitive business, and opportunities don’t wait for someone’s availability.Personally, I prefer working with professionals who devote their full career and time to the business, rather than treating it as something they fit in around another job.

I think if I go the STR route I think I would have to time up a long leave from work to truly devote the time/energy in standing everything up (and probably living at the property while that happens).

I use OwnerRez for my PMS (and all my scheduled messaging, which takes a lot of time off my plate)Schlage locks - integrated with ORTurno - integrated with OR for freeRing Cameras - though considering going to Wyze which i use at home. free if you put in SD cards and not use the web storageThermostat - have a couple on Google, but strongly considering move to EcobeeWaveapps - decent for small time operations. free for most features, low price to upgrade to full featuresPricelabs for dynamic pricing and market dashboards.I dip in and out of Rankbreeze now and then to show clients where they rank in searches and any optimization suggestions.I use free Google analytics for to check on direct booking website activity, try to figure out where to use any FB ad blasts

The time available to devote to these efforts10.