yes for DST they have to report and the report is extremely detailed.

I'm interested in Henderson for its proximity and AZ because I have family there, but am hesitant because I've heard that cashflowing properties are non-existent/extremely hard to find. 

@Juan VargasCredit card stacking is an easy to to ruin your credit and go into massive consumer debt at an extremely high interest rate.

This is extremely common in areas of C D quality properties.. not necessarily the tenant that did it could be just your typical theft when a home goes vacant. this is why its critical to have a vacant home policy in force on your rentals..

I recently had a baby girl and am extremely anxious about getting stuck in the rat race and not providing the life she deserves.

Zillow's API is no longer offered (or they make it extremely hard to access these days - have had no luck finding an updated link/page for it), Redfin has broad-stroke CSVs you can download that only give 5-10 fields of info and not often at the metro area, you can't legally create a tool to crawl these websites...I'm looking for 1 (or a handful of sources) to pull together basic metrics at the metro/city level for US real estate.

I really see Columbus Ohio as an extremely safe bet for the next 10-20 years.

A one time close is extremely rare for a spec build for investor as most are intended for sale .

Consider if you had a GC build a bunch of houses for you 10 years ago and paid full price (GC Fee) and gave them upside - this would be extremely costly. 

You should not have to go to extremes for hiring an attorney, but you can always consult your Evictions attorney in writing for input on the steps you plan to take-