It costs me $1,500 to evict a tenant with it usually taking two-three months.

You may run into issues with re-tenanting and it may take longer than you expect or cost more.  

I do understand all recent syndications are struggling with costs and tenants struggling to pay, so trying to be patient for now.

For example, should we focus on acquiring one high-quality property in a strong market, or would it make more sense to spread the investment across multiple lower-cost units in emerging areas?

In the desert it costs me LESS than $20 for water.

Can try to reposition to Class B, but neighborhood may impede these efforts.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, but 15-20% should be used to also cover tenant nonpayment, eviction costs & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores of 560-620 (approaching 22% probability of default), many blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 2 years.

Just make sure you set up a LLC to rack up the required experience.

Can try to reposition to Class B, but neighborhood may impede these efforts.Vacancy Est: Historically 10%, but 15-20% should be used to also cover tenant nonpayment, eviction costs & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores of 560-620 (approaching 22% probability of default), many blemishes, but should have no evictions in last 2 years.

Whether the seller was open to a buyer commission or not, I wouldn't put an additional cost into any personal purchase.  

What is anticipated legal costs?