If not, aren't you going to need to buy something else or are you just going to rent yourself? 

They are not allowed in certain master planned communities.Summerlin, including Sun City Summerlin▪ Town Center▪ Skye Canyon▪ Cliff’s Edge▪ Symphony Park▪ Grand Canyon Village▪ Las Vegas Medical District▪ Providence SquareAnd these restrictions I find would be the most difficult for you to overcome - A short-term rental license does not provide authority to violate any common-interest community’s covenants,conditions and restrictions (CC&Rs).

My husband and I (ok...my husband) are pretty handy, so we aren't afraid of doing a lot of work ourselves, and I know dealing Iowa winters will mean we need to take some precautionary measures, but it seems like low cost of entry for investing (we just got our first SFH this fall)

Make sure the numbers so that if you put in 60k to 70k you're getting some sort of annual net profit so you aren't having to feed the investment. 

You increase rents every year rents aren’t dropping.

So the house sits on the market and the sellers aren't disclosing the issue - which was one of just many.) 

I have read on the internet that some parts are and some parts aren't safe.

And be sure you have the ability to fire them at will and settle up so if they aren't progressing how you would expect, you can move on without paying huge penalties or in some cases not having any way of being able to fire them at all (some of the builders' contracts are ridiculously in their favor). 

AA or NA or state housing authorities that fund recovery-focused housing.

Maybe it can be a little cheaper on subsequent deals, if you aren't changing much.Loan apps: while you may be able to have some investor money funded before this is due, you may not.