If you already know there's a problem, hire pest control and take care of it. 

When I had a 40K 'disagreement' with a fraudulent contractor, I hired Brian Daughdrill here in Atlanta, and he helped me to resolve the issue.

We learned to have a better scope of work for contractor and to maybe look into hiring a project manager to organize and follow up on project.

I would also interview and hire an attorney that specializes in rental /landlord law so you can ask them questions. 

I also require a higher rent rate (25% - 50% more), the equivalent of three months rent in advance (first/last/deposit), and a mandatory cleaning fee so that I can hire professionals to clean after they depart and still have the deposit available for additional cleaning/repairs.It's a risk but you can make it work if you mitigate the risk to your favor.

I have also tried to get in contact with HR department with local businesses and let them know you have available rental so they can offer/mention to new hires/interns.

At $250k your average 3 decker should put around $800-1200 a month in your pocket once everything's paid assuming you fix it up nice after you buy it and put in good tenants(which can be found in any area, it just takes a bit more screening to find them in the areas you described, you could hire a good property manager to handle this part).

He accepted, and he actually ended up hiring me, and we still work together to this day.

Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home.

You will need to hire a licensed contractor for the work and the contractor will need to put together a detailed scope of work with line items and prices.