So they heavily play into that aspect of it.

I am not familiar with the Florida market, but the "ideal tenant" depends HEAVILY on location, surrounding business, size of the space, condition, and price point.

I agree with Ramsey that you should not invest heavily until all your debts are paid off.

I would, only if I heavily discounted for maintenance and repair of said pool.

They have been advertising heavily in my market.

The more rural counties have less diverse economies and rely heavily on tourism so the beach areas can be taxed heavily.

This is going to be heavily dependent on age of property, geographic region, usage... are you looking in STL or somewhere else?

As someone who has managed rental homes for many years I would recommend you opt for a 1 year lease and screen heavily on the front end (if you don't know how to screen with credit, criminal, etc use a free site for landlords like worryfreetenant.com ) You will also need to contact current landlord, verify income etc. 

I've seen quite a few agents heavily leveraging things like this, especially in localized markets where they can build consumer rapport in volume.

I would also start buying up more flex space which will be heavily discounted in the short term but immensely valuable in the long run. currently own 90,000 square feet of flex in the NYC area and it has been my best investment.