The biggest drawback is the lease can be pulled pretty much anytime.

I do see high taxes but was curious if there are any other drawbacks to the area.

The units basically all looked they are staged and ready for the open house if needed:)The drawbacks: 1.

The draw back to these loans is that they are more paperwork heavy than the other "portfolio" types of loans....but if you have ever received a loan on your primary home, it's likely that you will go through the same type of paperwork here with conventional lending.

Any issues / drawbacks with this approach? 

The only draw back with investing first is it will throw off my debt to income ratio and will lessen the amount I can finance for a primary residence.

If so, what were the drawbacks?  

Obviously renting means you don’t have to invest as much cash into the endeavor but there are also some drawbacks.

I’ve been advised of the positives as well as the drawbacks.

Quick update after taking into account @Steven Tawresey and @Evan Polaski's advice and chatting with another lawyer and lender, I've decided to go with a commercial loan from a regional bank (FirstBank).I think the benefits - higher leverage (80% vs 75%), finance the reno budget, avoid due on sale risk, build track record with the bank - outweigh the drawbacks of higher interest rate risk (7yr fixed vs 30yr) and a slightly higher rate.