I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether this approach makes sense or if there are other strategies you’d recommend to optimize profitability.Thanks in advance for your advice! 

You may not be able to break the contract this year but would recommend getting additional estimates going forward if you feel it is expensive.

Recommend you don't make an offer. 

If you do, I recommend you hire a real estate agent to help you lease up the units.

I'll take any and all advice any of you have, but the two things I'm looking for specifically are: what sites, services, and/or software you use and recommend for sceening and managing tenants? 

I honestly don't have any real feedback on them yet so hesitant to "recommend" them. 

With a budget of $300K-$400K, you could potentially find single-family homes or small multi-units in those areas.I'd recommend researching rental demand near universities like Duke or NC State or even checking out neighborhoods with strong job growth near tech hubs.

@Mattin Hosh first, most cities in Metro Detroit have some type of rental property inspection every 2-3 years.It's not really a big deal 99% of the time - especially for owners who are NOT slumlords:)Also, a quick Google search will show that several states/cities are passing/considering similar legislation.One of the biggest mistakes we see newer investors making is NOT properly understanding Neighborhood/Property/Tenant Classes and naively assuming that any rental they buy will deliver Class A results.Read our copy & paste thoughts below and DM us if you'd like to dicuss more about the Detroit market:)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Any recommendations for free tools to do market research?

If you’re leaning toward an LLC, I can recommend some local options to help set it up.