Be careful out there....some of the new builds are not comparable to the old builds....many of the newer ones are all siding, no brick, no light fixtures or ceiling fans...just LED recessed lighting...no doorbell, no garage door opener, no attic stairs, one piece tubs, vs tiled baths, no landscaping, no trees, and on and on....they've taken out virtually every single cost.   

2) If the lease that the tenant agreed to included them maintaining the front yard/ landscaping - is it reasonable to deduct a 1 time yard clean-up from their security deposit? 

Are there any recommendations from anyone who have found certain news sites or data sources to extract data from that has helped them understand the current market landscape in their target area?

The average price per land for urban infill going 6-12 stories high on a higher density product is about 5 million an acre up to about 25 million an acre. downtown market premiums I've seen at the highest are 1200 a sq ft. in columbus you can get land about 1.5 million per acre downtown at best price, sells for about 600 a sq ft max, very little competition compared to miami. tampa I didn't really look at too much because miami has 22 zip codes that you can build at least 6 or 8 stories on and just a much better landscape than other markets. tampa is a little bit bigger than columbus but in my opinion more of a suburban market. miami is landlocked and very limited so everything is in redevelopment. both are amazing opportunities but the barrier to entry is much higher in Miami with the smallest plots of land infill going for at least 1.5 million I would say in areas like Wynwood Norte, Wynwood, etc. we looked all over but prefer east of 95 due to the condominium opportunities. multifamily is very strong in both markets but the condo premiums make it almost silly not to do one from the start and the use of deposits versus a single asset lease up and disposition is a longer sales cycle than the condo buildings being sold out prior to completion.

Understand the neighborhoods, pricing trends, and rental demand to make informed decisions.Stay Open-Minded: The real estate landscape is constantly changing.

I understand Google continues to push into this space and disrupt the online travel agencies, so the landscape might be changing. 

The damage to the property can be handled over the next several weeks (large tree on roof, landscaping destroyed), though it is unclear when we will regain power and water (potentially weeks beyond repair?).

You left out dumpsters , HVAC landscaping , just to name a few .

I added a basement apartment to the house, redid the landscaping, and have taken care of some deferred maintenance on the house.

For example, one of our tenants gets discounted rent from April-October for managing the landscaping.