As I mentioned above, the risk of being sued, found guilty, and fined more than your insurance will cover is almost non-existent. 

Financing provided through this program is only available for properties located in Michigan or Florida.Available Product Type: SOFR 7/6 ARM, SOFR 10/6 ARMLoan Amount: $766,550 MaximumLTV: Purchase and No Cash Out Refinance - Maximum 99%Prepayment Penalty: NoneLoan Assumption: NoneEligible Properties: 1-unit dwellings, attached and detached condominiums, PUDsEscrow: An escrow account must be established for property taxes, and flood insurance, if requiredUnderwritingNo Private Mortgage InsuranceOccupancy – Primary residencesMinimum Credit Score - 700DTI – Max 43% (UW/Mgmt exceptions up to 50% with minimum 3 documented compensating factors)Student Loans – If in deferment, no qualifying payment requiredDown payment of 1% must be borrower’s own funds, while closing costs and prepaids may be gift fundsAttached condominiums require a 10% down paymentEligible Borrowers – Protect and serve heroes are defined as employees of public or private education institutions, employees of medical and healthcare organizations, all first responders, and active or former military personnel.Servicing: Retained

If they are on different tax parcels, I will use DSCR for the non-primary deals and then FHA or UDSA (assuming it is rural) for the owner-occupied one. 

If you think there might be the possibility of development raising the value in the future, you could try renting out the property to others for non-intrusive uses - parking, roadside vendor, etc. 

We are closing on our first South Bend rental property next week, as our local market opportunities have become non-existant unfortunately.  

Not every state or city mandates that any landlord has to accept Section 8, because the landlord has to not only subject their property to Section 8 inspections, rules and regulations, they also often have to separately arrange for the tenant to pay the non-covered part of the rent and can face difficulty evicting just based on that.

Of these properties do they have parking and how close to public transportation are they? 

They are threatening to sue to try and get something from you but most likely will not go through with it as you have no written contract in place and in california there is also no non-compete agreements.

Her contract says nothing about set up fees or early termination; I gave a generous offer to keep $400 as a design fee, but she sent me (2) $30 deadbolts and said the Technology Fee was non-refundable.There's other, better STR management companies out there.

If using a lender this is a non issue.