Part of the motivation for congress writing Dodd Frank was to clamp down on the investors offering preditory terms re  rent to own and seller financing and that view has carried into craigslist rent to own adds and you say zillow. 

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with investing in blue collar areas but I prefer to invest in the ones that have a higher degree of owner occupancy because the residents of those areas care about where they live and have deeper roots.  

Are there any local property managers in the Middle Tennessee area that will rent your property by the room instead of the whole house?

The automated systems do not account for the interior condition of properties, so they're not especially reliable. 

You'll want a PMC that will check on the property monthly or even weekly, to keep the college students obeying the rules.This management may cost a bit more, but is well worth it!

A portfolio of six buildings came across my desk today that has good numbers - 15.5K gross rent for ~1.1M with lots of upside to increase rents.  

Through the early years I'd post a few times then go dark for months at a time, even into my early days of being an agent, always been hot and cold, in my postings. 

Who owns the LLC? 

  - The biggest downside is you're paying two set of closing costs

First you tell me how you will filter out the owners who don't want to be contacted through cold call, sms and anything of the sorts.