Demand for rentals is near non-existent in this specific town during the winter, and demand is extremely hot in the summer months.

Portage Park has been a hot growth area!

It's certainly enough data to point you in the right direction.Otherwise, here's an article I published on the fastest growing economies in the nation, and many of these places are quite affordable and good places to start (Cincinnati, Columbus, Oklahoma City, etc).13 Real Estate Hot Spots You Won’t Want to Miss Next YearI hope my perspective helped.

The previous owners did a do-it-yourself remodel which had tons of red flags if I had taken the time to cross-reference the sellers disclosure with the inspection report, but at that time the market was hot and I had to move fast.

For context, 4 adults and all our tech living here, we were running about $250/mo on average per month for electricity anyway... outside of summer a/c useage. so all in all, its saved me about $2k a year if i had to guesstimate for you (it stays hot here through October usually).i still owe about $23k on mine, have no intentions of selling the house. but if i decide to move out and rent the whole house out, our market would support higher rent in exchange for no electricity bill. i think you just need to decide what YOUR main benefit of having the panels are. for me it was for the house-hack, and consistent billing, despite the usage. if its strictly for property value increase, i'm not sure it would be worth it, pending your specific market. 

There have been quite a few "hot-headed" investors who came through and were unsuccessful.

Its up to you as the builder to negotiate a fee that your happy to pay.. and Frankly market conditions dictate commission in hot markets one might be able to just stick a sign in the yard and do yourself.. still pretty tough or just put them on MLS and negotiate the buyers agents commish like the new rules dictate..

Rochester, NY is a very hot market, there are very few homes for sale.  

For the rest of the day we had the keurig for guests that wanted one cup of coffee or hot water for tea.

Many years ago when foreclosures were the hot item and every idiot in town was getting rich from them till the bubble burst, I paid $180 for Carlton Sheets No money down deal course hardcopy books and cd's well I bought the house I was renting with 0 down.