But I have seem similar topics presented at local meetups before.There were a few presentations that offer good information, so overall I wouldn't say it was a total waste of time.

I plan on talking to some of the land lords and gauging if they are looking to off load their MFRs in the future.2.

Three times you stop you are wasting your resources.

@Sean Bell call and make an appointment with a local civil engineer.. they will know most of this stuff off the top of their head.. then you have land planning companies..once you get an idea you contact local planning for a pre app.. then go from there.but don't waste the civil's time is you don't have the means to develop.. 

is waste water seeping somehow to the back yard...is there a sump pump discharge going to area,, maybe from also from neighbors property ???

We have loaded rentals in OH & we are in Texas.

. :)I just switched my current company to an S-Corp and put my self on the payroll since I know lenders dislike us "self-employed" folks.I hate to break it to you, but that was a waste of time and potentially money.

I just reviewed my PM sheets for the year in my HOUSTON properties.  1st half of the year I had PM who charged 10% PM fees and had BUTT load of maintenance costs.  

Hi @Mark SchneiderMy only advice is to not waste a ton of time on the yard sign people.

I just looked at a past bill (for Wayne Twp in Marion County), but they added in Solid Waste and Storm Water on top of the 2% of assessed value, which added 73.40 (yearly) to my bill.