You want them all to be able to communicate well with you and with each other.

It very well could become a large enough investment to be worthwhile, also solving for "unexpected emergencies ", for the most part and would an easy self management situation if you were to live onsite in one of your connected townhomes.

They have always rented them at well below market rate and the repairs were made by the tenants.

If this keeps reciprocating well with the community, I'll keep doing them.

I would go as-is as well!

And you can be a landlord that gets a very poor return because they haven't utilized their space well by changing the layout.

Even if you go "vertical", that tends to require an architect as well. 

Here are pockets I focus on for cash flow:West side - West boulevard, Cudell, Clark-Fulton, Jefferson, Bellaire-Puritas, Old BrooklynEast side - Fairfax, Buckeye-Shaker (the north side), Waterloo Arts District, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Newburgh Heights, Lee-Miles (the north side), BedfordHere are the areas that I focus on for appreciation:West side - Lakewood, Edgewater, Old Brooklyn, Ohio City, Tremont (above 490)East side - Buckeye-Shaker (the north side), Waterloo Arts District, Fairfax*I have a graded neighborhood map of these areas as well if you would like to check it out.

I have found that they worked really well when it comes to getting better tenants and better rents, and having less hassle, less headaches, and then getting a higher sales price; without paying closing costs or realtor fees.

Structuring Financing for Volume-Based InvestingTraditional financing methods like hard money loans work well for single properties but can be less efficient when you're scaling up.