Sometimes Local PMs are better as they are more dedicated than national ones which tend to be very busy and not focused on you 

.: @Devan Dorzokit's hard to say exactly what defines a 'major' rehab but 60K certainly seems major I wasn't entirely sure if you had some specific types of work in mind that tend to be problematic.

That is where the challenge is because the prices tend to be much higher.

Personally, I tend to be more “speculative” in my real estate investments.  

Your options in the Iowa Quad Cities are going to be Davenport, Bettendorf, and our surrounding mostly newer suburbs, which tend to be more expensive and less likely to cash flow.

On the other hand, residential rentals aligned with appreciation tend to be more stable and are a solid bet if you’re looking at long-term wealth building.

It’s great that you’ve already started practicing with NOI and cap rates for evaluating properties, but you're right that smaller properties, like quadplexes or less, are often valued differently.For residential properties with four units or fewer, the market tends to focus more on comparable sales in the area rather than purely relying on income calculations like cap rate.

AirDNA is a great tool, but I tend to find it slightly underwhelming, like @Wayde Hall mentioned for unique properties.

Also, I don't tend to buy linearly. 

As it has been said, I would tend to lean towards continuing to rent.