NOT a Quitclaim Deed, because Quitclaim Deeds do not fully warrant the rights and covenants of property as does a Grant and/or Warranty (or equivalent depending on state) does.

My immediate goal is to acquire our first property and spend the next two years mastering the basics of real estate investment. ( Refining the Go and No property search criteria/ Learning the value of taxes and avoiding them as much as possible/ 1031 exchanges) Depending on my wife’s career orders, we may remain in Baltimore for 1-2 years, but I’m also exploring opportunities in West Texas, Sierra Vista, AZ, and Houston, TX.

I'm interested in class C, and also class B depending on the price of deals I can find.

A basement conversion could make sense (either STR or LTR depending on how much work/headaches you are willing to take on).

It also depends on your morality towards the people you rent to. 

Josh Duncan Josh it depends on your comfortability level but I have been taking out 401K loans to fund my real estate and personally I love it. 

Which means you are now liable for anything they do.So, time to give the tenants notice to get rid of the dogs or move.If you have them on a month to month rental agreement, you can just give them a 30 day notice to move (or more, depending on your jurisdiction).  

I am also in Cincinnati and I did speak with True Home Ohio (https://truehomeohio.com) and they seemed to be somewhat reasonable except I believe they take a flat fee of $105 per door so depending on how much rent is for that door it could be cheaper or more expensive but their other fees I thought were very reasonable.

Market might be competitive but there is angles to stand out depending on what you are comfortable and able to handle, such as waiving an appraisal contingency, limitng inspection rights and time frames, closing time frames, allowing seller to stay-post closing, taking on difficult tenants, buying properties that might need repairs, etc.

Buy 1 or 2  house close to your home or at least someone what close depending on numbers.