If you want to put more brain power into it and potentially make more money I think closer to downtown could be a good fit.

Grass is always greener I guess...

So if a microwave has a useful life of 7 years, I say it’s closer to 5 years in a rental.

Moving out of state, moving closer to work, school or moving into a bigger home due to expanding family like "pregnant" and/or requiring additional rooms or larger GLA.If you purchase a 2-4 unit and try to purchase another 2-4 unit if they are not "Common" to the area you will have a hard time.

Selling the property isn't part of my plan, as I intend to perform a 1031 exchange for a mountain home in the West closer to my retirement, which is still 8 years away.I would greatly appreciate your insights and advice on how to navigate this situation.

Most construction loans are written for 12 months or longer and most new build to sold and closed average closer to 9 months or more..

If you have $900k to invest, I would focus on at least 10 units, ideally closer to 20 units.

The 350k price point is one that will make it a bit more challenging the closer you get to the city.

Markets closer to where you live tend to be easier to get started with as you might be able to learn the processes of managing a short term rental.

You are starting a new lease with these tenants, so basically you can charge whatever you want, including pet deposits and pet rent (assuming its legal to do that in your state), and increase in rent (again, some states limited how big of a % you can increase it).Its the balance of increasing it closer to market and protecting yourself for eventual damage by having pets in your units vs inducing a vacancy and starting over.....which can be scary but often its a good thing when you take over someone else's tenants.