There is a lot of new development moving south and west of Notre Dame.As for the specific neighborhoods - I think you can simply refer to the Trulia crime map as it tends to be pretty accurate.

The rent is pretty low ($1,900/mo for an entire 2,000 sq ft home Would love some advice or "here's what I did" personal experience.

Caught the flag on the first sentence "given the loan terms verbally" - Pretty much all the "reputable" DSCR Lenders will give out a detailed term sheet / pre-approval letter / LOI (many different names but same thing) outlining terms and approvals early on in the process - the good news is that if you haven't closed yet you can still switch lenders and see if you can secure your original terms - also good news is that the appraisal, while likely ordered by the lender or broker is in your name and your property, so you can likely transfer it to the new lender

I like it pretty easy for us to manage and fund..

I know of a company that went through a broker like this and the broker connected them with someone That ended up having a pretty bad history and the borrower wired millions after paperwork was signed for “prepaid interest reserve” and now, while they got the judgment, the money was sent overseas and it’s most likely long gone.

Rental rates are pretty flat in the Orlando area, and vacancy has expanded and you'll see rates in the 7-10% range, but it just depends on what source you get it from. 

Initially I wanted to use vinyl snap together flooring since it is pretty durable and I have worked with it before.

Even at an exit cap rate of 6.5% (which is pretty close to inconceivable), investors would still make a modest profit.

I'm pretty bummed about this as I currently have a 3% interest rate on the home.

The national courses are pretty tough to learn the local specifics in my opinion....and tax sales are very very local.Find someone local where you want to invest....check your local REIAs.