West Valley cities like Buckeye and Avondale, East Valley spots like Apache Junction and Mesa, or growing areas like Casa Grande and Maricopa are worth exploring.

I love those neighborhoods of Chicago.  

Population decline has slowed, and key neighborhoods are seeing real growth.

We have an opportunity coming up from a family member who is willing to sell us my childhood home for what they got it for (240k) and the comps in that neighborhood are 600k+.

None of these communities will be changing to residential neighborhoods, although a couple do have residential 'sides' that full time residents live in and can not be rented short term.Two of the big communities that you will have some issues with self managing are Reunion and Margaritaville.

. - You can get more units in the City of Detroit, but you will need to understand the City's demographics or you'll get taken advantage of.City of Detroit has 183+ residential Neighborhoods.

Destin is a great spot for house hacking—tourism is strong, so renting out part of your property could help with the mortgage.

ACM (Asbestos Containing Material) abatement is a tough one because often you won't know (outside pipe insulation & 8x8 tiles which I can spot and point out with no testing).

Quote from @Robert Smith: First time post, apologies if in wrong spot, this seemed semi-appropriate.Wife and I have 3 rental properties and 1 home, all in CA. 

We're willing to live almost anywhere in the greater Sacramento area based on what we can afford, provided of course that the property is in a decent neighborhood that has a good chance of attracting responsible tenants.As for budget, I believe we could get a conventional loan for properties up to $600k, but my strong preference is to find a distressed property (or seller!)