Back when I was in finance, we had a broker who was charging a family 2% for management fees on their cash that was only making 0.3% at the time.

I hope you have a lot of cash available to cover the FTC fines. 

but it's not a mailbox money / cash flow situation.

. #3 - Have finances in order (i.e) is this going to be bought through conventional, cash, HML, etc.

I took no money from the cash flow (when there was any) and I never made a late payment to the bank.This fall, nearly 12 years after the bank gave me that house, and over 15 years after I knocked on that door - after evictions, vacancies, insurance claims, and never taking a dime out of it - I sold that house and placed all of the proceeds in a 1031 exchange.

They give the benefit of instant liquidity and being able to sell them when you need the cash.

Good to know as I have a property coming on the market and we had one off market offer already all cash but at 10% list price discount (which we most likely will reject).Curious if you think the california fires will assist the market since many of those people need places to live for years and I am guessing some will flee california?

The cash flow either way.

I think an investor can find a nice property there that will cash flow and potentially appreciate.My issue is that the OP mentions that she disqualified Baltimore because the city had a declining population but was still considering Cleveland and Toledo.From my brief research Cincinnati and Columbus both have had population increases.

There are more buyers for SF homes, but Multifamily properties typically cash flow better as you mentioned.