If you follow the line from the meter to the house and look for a spot that is mud or soggy.

While I am a long time buy and hold investor, I have come to the conclusion that it is time to sell my duds.  

Where did you come to that conclusion?

In conclusion, it is great real estate. 

If you can't get a zero-interest credit card, get a low-interest balance transfer card, put the replacement on your regular card, and then transfer it to the new card.How many times do you think he's googled "freon leak" or talked to his other tenant friends and reached the conclusion that you're just an awful, cheap landlord witholding what he's paying you for?

I pretty much came to this conclusion after making the thread but now I'm much more confident this is the way to go - I'll suggest they keep the house and take out a home equity line of credit while I act as a the project manager so to speak for a cut.It's good no one will pay capital gains tax, but what kind of tax can I anticipate for either of us in the state of TN (even a rough estimate would be helpful)?

Thank you @Joseph AdelmannI did some research and came to conclusion that market is good but might not have the proper items in place for an out of state investor yet.

But how exactly did you come to the conclusion that an out of state investor buying a $5,000 property in a blighted area & attempting to rent it out cause more damage to the community of Cleveland?

Also in the news this week that NY lost 48,000 in population in the last year:https://www.pressconnects.com/story/news/local/2019/04/18/population-loss-plagues-new-york/3482885002/and several articles have noted that the number of TAXPAYERS in NY is dropping faster than the population:https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Study-finds-New-York-losing-the-most-tax-payers-9223778.php Draw your own conclusions about this data.  

Many investors take the easy route and glance at the IRR and form a conclusion in their mind as to whether the deal is good, or not.