Any guesses at a cost range would you be looking at to build a single garage with a loft above to rent out?  

The old rule of thumb was that a prospective borrower could get a mortgage of about three times (2.8-3.6) times gross household income at interest rates in the 6-8% range.

One thing that I do uniquely at the end of each walk, is ask the investor how much budget they are willing to spend, by taking that number, we could walk the site again and give them a list of what we could do with that budget.

I am sort of pulling folks leg because I know we have a very unique business model but we worked hard at being "anti-competitive" re other investors, so buyers have no one else to come to.Just offering:  think out side the standard box.  

I think you can find some properties in that price/rent range. 

I also noticed it in single family homes where the prices range from $135,000 to $299,000. 

They range from very sophisticated professional real estate investors that own many properties all the way down to people that have local friends that help them locate properties.In some areas of Collin County, you might have 4% of homes in a neighborhood owned by Chinese investors.

Cleveland offers a unique space for Real Estate investing and has an abundance of opportunity both east and west side. 

What I found was a majority of the people owed more than the home was worth and many were not in a price range I was interested in working.

I'd suggest targeting 2 families below $300k (decreasing supply of these), and 3 families in the ~350k range.