In my experience, cost segregation studies are a lot less than $10-15k especially for smaller properties (6 units and below).

You can also expect increasing HOA fees, and there may be some problems renting a property inside a difficult.You don't have any experience, prices are at an all-time high, and rates are also high. 

Regardless of legal nuances, I can tell you from extensive professional experience: Don will WIN an IRS audit for his Subject-to interest, as long as he can show that he made the payments.

Start local and small, then grow from there with experience.

I'm looking to connect and network with other investors, contractors etc who have experience in this market. 

It can work if you have experience and a local team to help.  

I am very interested in real estate investing and flipping (I have a decent amount of construction experience) I was wondering what some good resources are to look at when evaluating a property, especially in the Dayton / Cincinnati area.  

From my experience, if I had started in real estate right after school, I would have very little network and little to no funds for the RE exam, CE classes, and networking registrations.

Anyone else have experience with this?

Your decades of experience have made you jaded.