And one can optimize one's exit strategies to maximize both cash-flow and appreciation for now or later.

@Brie Schmidt I think your idea of "optimizing" is spot on.

Be OK with the fact that you may pick sub-optimal investments in a sub-optimal niche. 

I wanted to test some theory’s I had on a new idea.I’ve used seo to get all my deals in California and wanted proof of concept for the idea, which turned out to work in 3 months in Grand Rapids. $127,500 purchase $35k (ish) repairs $220-230k arv $1750 east rents 

I just want to say though that we avoided a lot of mistakes by reading the book Optimize your AirBnB by Daniel Rusteen before we started.Biggest Mistake - I think our biggest mistake with our short term rental was taking so long to furnish it and not capturing business as quickly as we could after acquiring the property (leading to thousands of lost rents).

Are you marketing it like a professional listing and is the listing fully optimized with professional pictures, title, description, etc?

MartinTake a look at running a "preference test" on Verify App http://verifyapp.com/tour/preference-testI use them for the work I do A/B testing and conversion rate optimization, I'm in no way affiliated with them. 

To answer your question, I invested about 5 years ago with a group who had lots of optimism and confidence but lacked the necessary skills to properly renovate and manage a large apartment building (400-units).

For the most part, it sounds like it will take some experimenting to figure out what the optimal bid/budget price should be.

Your direct bookings site will never be able to compete with the SEO of the big players.