So, we decided to ride it out and go through the legal process.

I'd focus on deciding what you want to do (flip-high risk, but potentially high return...or large loss; short term rental-more work, but higher return than long term rental; long term rental-less work than the other two, but lower return).Once you've decided which you want to do, then focus on getting the best house to meet your goal. 

Best of luck and looking forward to hearing what you decide to do.

After some additional research we have decided to focus on the aforementioned markets, but I will keep you in mind if we decide to look at Columbus more closely in the future. 

Sacramento is decidedly NOT the land of GSW!

The fresh perspective from someone outside of my network is crucial, that way my expectations can be closer to reality if I decide to reach out to new contacts for this opportunity. 

3) how did you decide on the specific city you chose to invest in?

I would not have decided to use them if they were only offering property management services, and I'm glad I didn't because they did take quite a bit of time to get my properties up and running and bookings coming in.

There are tons of strategies, pick one that excites you and run with it until you have mastered it and then you can decide to pickup another strategy. 

Once you've thought a bit about what your ideal wholistic investment portfolio looks like, if you decide that you want some kind of more active real estate investing in the mix, I cannot recommend more getting Start with Strategy by Dave Meyer and the accompanying workbook The Strategy Planner.