As an out of town owner, one benefit of Madison is that we do have a good supply of property management companies to consider. 

I agree with Alecia-I would start with something smaller, find an city/area of town you like. 

They actually failed to pay taxes in 1983 as well according to the follow up article below. 2 years later in 2017 the County reversed the sale voting 7-4 against “these out of town speculators trying to make a big payday” and for the fine people of their district. https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/SF-supervisors-to-vo...

Las Cruces is a small college town (home of the New Mexico State University Aggies) with healthy population of federal government workers and military contractors.

There’s a huge and badly needed street project coming over the next few years on the main drag in the near west part of town - W.

I'm in a small town with nobody to really network with on a regular basis.

Quote from @Ben Trageser: I would recommend calling the zoning department of the town and asking.

I agree with your idea of exploring the smaller surrounding towns in East Texas.

I hope you enjoy small towns that lack diversity.I am sure Dayton has some real estate meetups.

ya I got totally home runned on a 40 lot development I was doing just north of town was in the county but the polictics are the same.