I would suggest aggregating rents from a few sources (craigslist, local paper, rent.com, zillow) to give you a broader and hopefully more accurate view of youe local rents.

The broader point being - property managers are relatively expensive when you don't own the property outright.My wife and I own 37 rental units and self manage them very easily.  

If you're looking for broader STR insights into a specific market to see what might be possible in terms of revenue, occupancy, etc, Airdna is really solid.

The larger population in Columbus generally translates to a larger pool of potential renters and a broader real estate market. 

The emergence of platforms like Arrived, Here, and REalpha, where buy-ins can be as low as $10, has democratized investing to a broader audience.

While it might be beneficial to shadow an agent, I find that talking to different people gets you a broader perspective on the market, how to do business, etc. 

From a broader perspective, commercial is a bit more subjective, and to me, it is generally when you are in asset sizes that professional investors are looking at.  

I'm not looking for properties currently for sale, but a broader list of addresses of 3- and 4-unit buildings.

But for many neighborhoods in touristy areas where the STR premium is higher than the tranquility premium, allowing STRs will increase values in the broader market. 

Also I'd like to rephrase the question, if banks own them, why don't they put some GC on retainer (and I know some banks do have a contractor's list for their own facility improvement, i've bid in some of them) fix the asbestos and sell to a broader market.