My suggestion is to make sure it's a house that other students will be in line waiting to help you keep it rented when/if you move on to another area, or town, and one that is very close to campus (walking distance is often optimal, but not an absolute necessity) might be helpful, but I believe making it an attractive-to-students house is important.... 

It seems like there’s optimism out there, at least in my market.

What is your take on the most optimized property type to invest as a short-term rental in Kauai. is it 2 bed/1 bath, 3 bed/2 bath.

If rents are under market, consider small increases or exploring additional ways to optimize your cash flow, such as taking on another roommate.Refinancing is also worth exploring in the future.

This class will include hands-on deal analysis and a tour with a contractor to learn how to convert a home to the optimal PadSplit setup.

If you're looking for STRs on the beach, you'll have difficulty finding something that cash flows unless you can get optimal occupancy. 

Always have an exit strategy in case refinancing takes longer than expected, such as optimizing rents or reducing expenses.

Now obviously those don’t tend to be the same, but it does mean that when I’m looking to optimize my returns I care about the overall cost of the financing, not the source.I monitor my overall debt to equity ratio to make sure I don’t end up over leveraged.

Or are you going to take the time to go over the menu?

I'm also afraid that I'll miss the opportunity while waiting for the optimal buying environment.