They were perfectly acceptable 20 years ago, but now many areas are limited to one guest per calendar month. 

A lot more important compared to newer construction homes where you don't have to deal with certain things when it comes to either of those.Many other nuances but those are just a few that come to mind.

If you buy in a city with limited appreciation, every investment dollar must come from your savings.

But I can’t stand the humidity.

I'd recommend house-hacking a duplex or triplex if possible to help limit your living expenses.

Do it very intentionally, not just for the sake of scaling up, but to get better quality or easier to manage properties that will replace lower quality or harder properties. 

I handled our rental unit renovations, but they weren't huge and this seems an order of magnitude greater.  

It's like the 70% rule, you can use it to narrow down 100 deals to 30 deals to dive deeper, but you need to know estimates per house..

Slightly increased the offer to quickly go under contract, but still had inspections and everything done before completing the deal.

I am okay with limited cashflow while I'm in my prime W2 working years but not negative.