In my experience, 58% is on the higher side of the spectrum for a midwest 12 unit.

There exist a wide spectrum of i potential investments out there.  

Generally for basic real estate work, it's going to be on the low end of the spectrum.

I think there is a whole spectrum of investment possibilities in real estate - on one end are the very hands-on, DIY projects that require a lot of time and effort, as you correctly noted, and on the other are the totally hands-off investments, like REITs and syndications.  

This area seems to be on the lower end of the crime spectrum, although schools don't have a high Greatschools rating (1-2).

Even on the conservative end of the rent spectrum with PMI still intact, we could net $500 / month, not counting any expenses or vacancies.Here are my questions:1) I'm assuming an 1800 sq. ft. house would take a little longer to find tenants for than a smaller house or apartment.  

I think Spectrum also offers business wifi and public wifi, so I'll check with them too (https://business.spectrum.com/internet.html).Of course, tenants are able to get their own wifi, but with that usually costing around 50 bucks a month, I think my offering along with the smart home features would be very appealing.

I'm also hearing the latest versions of the smartthings app have not been as good.When I start to research alternatives, they quickly go to either the simplified, very integrated end of the spectrum with Alexa, Google Assistant, Apple Home Kit, etc., OR the more techy, open-sourced stuff that starts talking about local networks and running on raspberry Pi, which is enough to know that's more than (I think) I'm willing to bite off.  

I've heard both ends of the spectrum on this one.

Might be time to invest in a new one depending on the class of the rental.Also to chime in, Sears has the WORST customer service I've ever encountered, rivaled only by spectrum.