The flipside is that I expect the expensive markets like Beaufort will continue to appreciate strongly in the long term.

Unfortunately this was held way too long due to a number of factors, including COVID, city planning and permit delays, delays in construction and materials, and additional delays by city.

The prior owner, a mentally-challenged man, had died in 2018 while in long term care. 

Hey @Graham Reblitz, For long-term rentals, I would recommend buying 20 to 40 min to the north or east of Tampa and you are going to be able to acquire decent cash-flowing properties.

Besides, it will be easier to find a replacement tenant in July than it will be in November.Let him terminate without penalty as long as he agrees to let you schedule showings to potential renters and helps find a replacement.

I'm okay with the risk as long as I understand it.

Take a more long-term view, what happens when you continue to reinvest your cash flow and make your assets better?

Some investors think I am crazy doing that and perhaps so, but I take other people's money seriously and even when the crap hits the fan (and it will if you do enough deals for a long enough period of time), paying back your lender is priority one in my book.Most of my deals for private money also include a balloon payment rather than monthly payments.

Evicting the tenants and moving in to perform repairs myself while I explore Detroit, as I have never been there before, but this process might take a long time.I would appreciate any advice or insights on how to proceed.

I don't live there so I have no pony in this race.Why should it matter related or unrelated as long as you are at the legal limit in occupancy.