He's been providing paper reports but next year they have requested that he export these into spread sheets.

My property manager was diligent with picking the right tenant, which I appreciated, but that comes with really narrowing down a pool of applicants that would have been okay in the short term.I am trying to decide what is best right now and getting them rented out would make sense, but my problem is the lack of funds I currently am facing to rehab them to get them back to rent-ready condition and the monthly mortgage really hindering my ability to save up for these rehab funds.

One block can perform very well, and another block will destroy you.Before you invest, I recommend you locate a quality PM that can help you narrow down markets, determine which rentals perform best, cross-check sales prices and rent rates, and take over management right away.The biggest mistake you could make is to get talked into buying in the wrong neighborhood and then learning that the good managers won't touch it. 

To narrow down my search can you guys please suggest if I should focus more on Ohio or North Carolina? 

That's the roadmap and its spreading like wildfire.

I have narrowed down five different US cities where I would like to begin my investing journey and plan on picking one in the near future. 

I have run spreads to no end and if/when interest rates fall there is a point where OPM would make sense for this approach. 

It certainly breaks down the barriers to entry so that you can spread coins across a wide array of assets and markets. 

The tax bill will be spread out because you are not collecting all the money at once.

Youtube channel for the property that you upload tours for you guests but also will spread out to YouTube watchers.I can go on for days but I will say losing that amount of money on an STR is tough to swallow.