I think in most of these areas you'll need to ensure your cash flow is sufficient for multifamily and you have a path for driving valued through increased NOI via increased revenue and/or expenses.

I focus on Columbus, Ohio, which has seen significant growth, especially with tech giants like Intel, Meta, Amazon, and Google setting up operations, driving up property prices and job opportunities.

You can go and do a drive by of the property.  

Maybe communicating it more will help, but you cannot make people read.As a guest I would find making my own bed especially after a long drive or flight would be annoying. 

I would assume areas where there are higher price to rent ratios, there may be more rental properties on the market, driving rental prices down.  

Or push through working another 4-5 years to make sure you were "safe"?

You're like someone who honks at a car for driving the speed limit and then looking away when they pull up to next you at a stoplight.  

It protects it from outside liability (let's say you drive recklessly and kill someone, and your personal car insurance gets exhausted, the suing parties cannot come after the rental property because it is not personally owned by you). 

Its a central point between Atlanta and Knoxville, Atlanta and Nashville, Within a 5-7 hr drive to a handful of coastal beaches, and a great place to open a place of residency for someone. 

After digging around I've come to the conclusion that for a small team with a small amount of properties you simply can't beat a free solution like Google Drive with Google sheets, docs.