You don't want to be stuck in hard money any longer than you have to.I want to emphasize again that the cheapest hard money will not be a hard money lender... it'll be your "hard money battle buddy" that you take turns charging hard money rates/points to back and forth, because the points will be a wash if you ballpark take turns being each other's loan shark when needed.

It has 2 tanks but cannot pass a gas station without guzzling many gallons. 

The location of the leach field and the septic tank can also be useful in knowing if there are trees nearby that may have root systems potentially damaging the septic tank or disrupting the leach field. 

This is a new one on me ...In a rental unit which has a gas hot water tank, the city water is well water (5 deep wells, per the city's website), and I get a sulfur smell from the hot water.

Even during the crash, home prices really didn't tank quite as much as they did in most other parts of the country. 

The problem is that mobile home dealers/sellers/investors simply want to be excluded and there are too many sharks that have abused such lending practices and they do need to be regulated.

If you know that there isn't much that can go wrong which you need to be local to deal with, well, I've been doing it that way for 10 years and nothing has been an issue yet including an overflowed septic tank and a tenant who tried to reheat a pizza in the oven... while it was still in the box.

Don't know about Chi town but here in NJ, leaking underground storage tanks (that used to service oil furnaces) are a huge concern.Another option is to buy the 1st at a discount and foreclose on the 2nd.

As for the water tank, prices are all over the board on those, need more detail.

And I suspect hot spots like Cleveland are even worse when it comes to inflated pricing and a need for low income housing, and investors buying up the inventory.My rents are actually some of the highest in Youngstown proper, but I rent to professionals, as opposed to low income/section 8, and put the money into the properties to justify the rents (new stainless appliances, central a/c, new flooring, designer paints, higher end light fixtures, new furnaces, hot water tanks, bathrooms remodeled, quartz countertops, etc).