If you start in your market now and then transition later.. you will have to rebuild your entire network and start over with your knowledge on the selected market.I suggest looking into OOS investing.

Would a tenant be held to the lease when it could take longer than the lease to rebuild?!? 

Hello BP!
It has been a long time since I've been active here. 
From around 2010-2020 I built and managed a small-medium-sized portfolio in my area (which is not an ideal market). I sold most of my properties when C...

I suggest you look into commercial lending, to learn about it before you require it, and start looking for people in the lending space who can assist you as you move forward and with whom you can develop relationships.You now have mad skills and experience doing the whole demo and rebuild, and if you can repeat a few times, your one deal enables you to add a couple others.  

Fortunately everyone was ok and the insurance company has been no problem at all giving a full pay out which is valued at the purchase price in 2020.The pay out is not enough to repair/rebuild as the house was built in the 1920s and would not make sense in the location it is in.

I heard rumors of the insured people from the Marshall Fire a few years ago were under insured at around $250 a square foot and can't rebuild. 

The hard part for Cocke County is it is already one of the poorest counties in TN and will be hard to impossible for many to rebuild their lives and small businesses.

When you ask someone who just lost their house, their response always seems to be "we are going to re-build".

Learn the basics of financials in RE, build a strong team on the ground, understand the ins and outs of RE and what market your in, understand how to actually flip the home and what strategy you are doing (Highly recommend the BRRR) as holding homes is where the money is made. 

You will lose your equity and possibly rebuild it over time, but why are you rushing?