When you buy a home in Ohio for significantly more than its current assessed value, like $400K compared to the county's assessed $80K, your property taxes will likely increase, as the county will reassess the property based on your purchase price.Regarding your idea to have the seller transfer the property into an LLC and then buy the LLC: this strategy may avoid immediate reassessment, but it depends on local tax laws, and you should consult a real estate attorney to confirm if this is viable in Ohio.

Following up, of the amount that I decide to invest from my savings, how much should go towards down payment and how much should be reserved for repairs.

Got to shelf the reservations for all units until we can fix this.

If there is any question about the type of policy and the coverage, call the insurance agent to confirm.

Additionally, I don't believe Form 4797 should be generated for this transaction.Please confirm that, for reporting a 1031 exchange from one residential rental to two residential rentals, I need to prepare a separate statement and only complete lines 19 through 25 on Form 8824.

So make sure you have massive reserves. 

The interest rate was 12% and I still had to come to the table with some money and renovation cost was most likely going to go over (confirmed by talking with multiple contractors) and ARV wasn't high enough. 

Am now working with some creative financing to solidify the reserves for my newest purchase.

You have to confirm there are no pending assessments and lawsuits against the HOA before buying and an assessment usually comes for roads, roofs, windows, decks, and stairs that were not done properly or have a safety issue.

Yup, confirming that desirable assets in desirable areas are indeed being financed in the 5s with normal bank and credit union loans for commercial real estate.