They will save you time and money. 

Hi Jessica, if they ban smoking, I believe it will be legal and life for the smoking tenant will quickly become unbearable.

If you start reading the forum, you will get a good idea of what to look for. 

Maintenance at at PM company or one of the big hedge owners like AH4R, leasing at apartment complex will teach you a lot about applications, fraud, leases, collections, evictions. 

It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits.

Similarly, if you put several Class D tenants in a Class A 4-plex, what do you think will happen to the property?

Southbridge and Webster are cheaper as well.There will be obvious trade-offs in terms of location / amenities and price but i have seen good traction in all of the aforementioned locations.I'm looking for househacks for clients around central Mass and while they're not impossible to find by any means units in Worcester are typically trading at $225-250.

So, the actual increase to market rent will be much lower.

IF you plan on going back someday, and this is the home you want to move back to, then renting it would be a good idea as long as you estimate that it will cover itself, or preferably, cash flow, which it appears that yours will at @ $2K or so per month (after expenses). 

A traditional bank will normally not fund a flip.