I received a letter of a code violation from the County Building Department, investigating me for operating an illegal Bed and Breakfast.

there is this romanticism that this is the best way to get into the business when you have limited funds.. the mortality rate  is in the upper 90s the only one who really makes any money is the yellow letter guys  LOL>you see it all the time  I want to " start by wholesaling so I can get some cash so I can then become a buy and hold investor"  @Kyle Conrad  If you want to do this just go right to the horses mouth.. go to the state department of real estate or whatever its called there and talk to an one of the investigators or who ever will talk to you lay out your game plan and ask them if a license is required.. those are the folks with the last word. 

Initially the idea of a 'checkbook IRALLC' was rather intimidating for me,  so, after investigating on Bigger Pockets and elsewhere,  I went through Sense Financial and they were wonderful.  

This is a great place to learn and further investigate investing in real estate.

Not many homes will fall into this range, so not a sure thing but definitely worth investigating.  

There is a great deal of difference between the areas you mention.For a simple way to investigate crime stats for free, you can enter an address into Realtor.com and go about halfway down the page to the map, and click on the crime overlay. 

Here in Colorado, we can use a drivers license/name/ssn to do a Colorado Bureau of Investigations online criminal background check for $6.

Most states have statutes that provide the insurer must communicate the status of it's investigation and it's coverage decision within a set to frame. 

That will likely narrow it down to a few neighborhoods that you can investigate and decide whether or not you'd be comfortable there. 

I have investigated several multifamily properties where the agent claimed the tenants were paying $X, but when I interviewed them, I discovered they were actually paying significantly less.Determine the vacancy rate and the time it took similar properties to rent.