I'd love to connect with other locals who can point me in the right direction. 

Somebody will figure out a creative way to work it into a deal though.  

The market is saturated if you don’t have the creativity to look beyond the top dozen or so markets.

Through some creative moves I will be mortgage free in once I am ready in March or April at the latest.

You're going to want to leverage house hacking or creative financing to get to 4-6 properties in just 3 years. 160k would be enough for 1, maybe 2 deals the conventional way, and with your current income, it would take you a few years to replenish your war chest for another deal.

Just looking for guidance and some direction.

If so, page 15, Section 5.01 F. should directly address your question: http://ccatax.ci.cleveland.oh.us/taxforms/common/rreff1124.pdfIf you should be buying in some other local jurisdictions in NE Ohio, be aware of RITAOhio.com.Each of the above root websites has a menu that gives you the list of participating jurisdictions for each.

I'm in Denver and while its cheaper than Los Angeles, it's also tough to cash flow without being creative.

Sellers will be able to sell to ibuyers and fix n flippers direct and still avoid a broker3.

In the ad creative, you can mention that you're able to buy houses in foreclosure without signaling that you're a specialist in foreclosure-related issues, if that makes sense.