I did forget to mention that the city does have some rental certification requirements.

If you are interested in helping the city rebuild feel free to private message me!

If this is your first time investing in Cincinnati, it is a unique area with a lot of different submarkets with unique characteristics that may not be true of other cities.

*Number 1 seems more appealing to me, as I'll be the private landlord (and can save on costs there), and I know those cities so I feel comfortable choosing the right property.

I'm looking at specific cities where there are strong demographics and job growth trends, but where the rent-to-value ratio is still high enough to make it work. 

I live on the other side of the country in Baltimore and have found that there are hardly any affordable multis for me to house hack that are not in rough areas of the city.

My lawyer and Friend Jon Batastini is located in Ocean City and deals with these issues in his law practice.  

It takes more time to research city liens than it does to buy a list from list source.

If someone needs temporary housing I have some untenanted units in the Quad Cities that I'd be happy to provide for temporary use until this all gets sorted out.

@Aaron PetersonI moved your thread to the landlords forum.Snow removal ... it will be here before you know it ... .I've already put our RFQ as we were not happy with our service in one city last winter.In our experience, when it comes to landscaping/lawncare and snow removal, anytime you cannot define where one tenant's domain ends and another begins, the obligation falls to the landlord.If you have a side-by-side duplex or a row of townhouses where each tenant has their own drive and patch of green, you can hand-off snow removal and lawn care to the tenant ... though you are just as often better served to take care of it yourself and bake it into the rent.Anytime you have stacked units or a block (such as a small purposely built quadruplex), the parking and green space are common areas (just like stairwells in the interior) and fall to the landlord.