Follow the host's suggestion to set aside what you think you already know - it just confuses you, as we have seen here.It will be boring and you may fall asleep multiple times listening to him drone on in mostly monotone, but bear with it.

You can definitely find single-family homes or duplexes in great areas that fall well within your budget of $180K or less.

A really nice home with some extra touches (a little granite, better flooring, nicer paint job, nicer cabinets, etc.) compared to the area will make potential tenants fall in love with the place.  2) Tenants that bring or can swing their own appliances are more financially stable (or just stable in general, ha!)

My husband and I (ok...my husband) are pretty handy, so we aren't afraid of doing a lot of work ourselves, and I know dealing Iowa winters will mean we need to take some precautionary measures, but it seems like low cost of entry for investing (we just got our first SFH this fall)

Your deal looks solid and falls within the typical range for Cleveland.

The Seller is required to disclose any material defects and a fire would definitely fall into that category. 

If you can just make sure you are buying right, everything else falls into place eventually.There are markets that perform better than others, but unless you are holding long-term or building rentals, you shouldn't really care too much since flipping is all about buying at the right price for that market:

Proc. 2004-51, 2004-2 C.B. 294, that fall on or after the date of a federally declared disaster, are postponed by 120 days or to the last day of the general disaster extension period authorized by an IRS News Release or other guidance announcing tax relief for victims of the specific federally declared disaster, whichever is later.

I'm falling way behind my plan, and with my W2 job becoming unbearable I want to accelerate my RE efforts. 

And some markets that were overinflated will fall as well!