The idea is they want to add more long term rentals to the market to help with affordability.The mid-term market is interesting but then you are covering utilities, internet, etc.

These companies and their leadership/owners don't care about anonymity because they understand how to properly operate their business i.e. avoid negligent activity while utilizing contract management systems ensuring all vendors are vetted with appropriate licensing and insurance and contracts with  indemnification are in place.

Mike, My recommendation would be during due diligence for a potential purchase, ask for past 12 months of all utility bills, property taxes, and any other municipal requirements like rental permits, occupancy inspections etc. 

Run an Opco/Propco model.If your business utilizes real estate as part of ongoing operations you can get all the tax benefits of active RE by having the building purchase and hold the RE.3.

If you ever decide to look over in this area, I'd be happy to put you in touch with the systems I utilize over here and give you insight on which areas to look for. 

Purchased home with potential upside in hoping to force appreciation in the house in order to create equity and eventually utilize the equity (HELOC) to begin investing in other properties.

Unfortunately there's a lot of alarmist/scare tactics utilized to upsell these services that do nothing but generate revenues for those who are selling the service and often leave the clients with recurring expenditures i.e  annual maintenance costs.  

Starting with an FHA loan on a property with separate utilities is a great way to begin.

While the 3-month mortgage deferral sure helps now, I still have to pay utilities, taxes, insurance and maintenance on my house. 

For example, in some cases even when the home is livable a seller might turn off utilities on a vacant house to save money.