Instead of paying $5,000 a month for a mortgage (plus taxes, insurance, and maintenance) consider renting for $3,000 a month and save the other $2,000 a month to apply towards real estate investing.There are many great areas to invest in, and they don't have to be large cities like Cleveland.

Additionally, you may want to ask your insurance broker about rental income coverage as a landlord which could kick in if you have a non-paying tenant. 

.- These total 10 duplexes should bring in 30K gross rent per month and cash-flow about ~3-4K/month.We don't plan to use any of the cash-flow for personal expenses and after keeping sufficient reserves, we will funnel the cash-flow to pay-off existing properties.

When you get their bill pay them the same day in Person.  

having market knowledge and boots on the ground in Buffalo as you noted is definitely a plus, but there is just so much competition right now, even for the most distressed assets. 

I'm pretty handy, and over the years, I accumulated a lot of tools and can do a lot of things myself (minor and major plumbing, HVAC repairs, major remodels, I've done it all, but sometimes I prefer to pay someone else to do it).

Obviously, different people have different reasons for the way they approach their investment strategy:Personally, I prefer to use personal funds and "pay" myself the interest. 

I am hoping to make a low offer closer to 1 mil due to the time it has been sitting on the market and not paying a buying agent 3% but just using an attorney.

I was wondering is paying cash and doing a little rehab on them would be worth the return on rent?

If the answer is no then keep the rental for many years then when you go to sell either pay the taxes or do a 1031 (if still around).