Not sure about maple heights/cleveland, but just down the road here in Akron, the Akron housing authority maintains a list of properties and landlords who are actively interested in providing section 8 housing.

ask them for recent permit pulls in the county and go look them up to verify activity. you can also call the local building department to verify their license and recent activity. if you don't see any run for the hills. 

Look at crime rates, school quality, vacancy rates, and rental demand in those areas.Talk to Local Real Estate Professionals: Connect with real estate agents, property managers, and other investors who are active in the specific areas you're considering.

My goal is to add verbiage within the lease that will decrease any tiffs between tenants for the common spaces and how to set expectations and promote group effort with cleaning the common areas/shoveling snow/personal dishes/shared fridge/laundry/having guests and so forth. 

You have to be an active manager and many current owners are not wanting a second job and are selling.

However, we are seeing far more activity in Nova Scotia for both investors and clients.

This is often more difficult to find but one strategy would be to talk with STR investors who are active in the market there. 

Some great info can be found on the PropertyInvesting.com.au forum and Somsersoft.comI use to be quite active on these forums before I moved to the US.

Focus on building and maintaining active income first.

There are also facebook groups for various cities/states/communities where you can place and promote your listing.Happy to help answer any other specific questions!