The houses are in 2-different parts of town--the one that was on the market long is in a nice area, but it is flooded with rental homes.Based on your story, your PM doesn't sound terrible, but they don't sound like superstars either.

It might be worth connecting with a local (CHA) realtor - there are several here on BP - to help you identify a few areas around town that might work for your needs.

I found a house that used to be a bar/restaurant but the town changed the zoning to only allow single family properties in that area.

Same concept in an easter NC town might be a good comp?

Exploring SFR in St.

New Orleans is a tough town for good contractors I think.

However, on Thursday a tornado went overhead (didn't touch down in town) and did severe damage to the property I wanted to put an offer on.

I do not accept offers from an out of town no name mortgage company. 

Hello to this great community, I'm glad I finally found a community around real estate.Well to introduce you, my name is Stelios 32 yo from Heraklion, Greece(Crete Island), married with 1 kid.As for Real Estate, right now I'm working on buying 2 studio apartments in my area(Heraklion).According to my newbie research in the area, the market in my town must be right now in phase 1 but I'm not 100% sure, to be honest.Bureaucracy alone is one hell of work in my country and I already work 3 months on fixing papers, waiting for tax systems to unlock so we can get some tax papers needed and much more things...Well to consider numbers, the 2 apartments are in the center of my town and they are both sold at the deep discount of 23600€ right now if you ask me this is a very rare price.

For anything like check with the local town authority.