My sister has to pay a septic tank fee of 200 dollars every year on her newer home yet my parents on the same ranch pay nothing on their old homes tank.For the most part our wanting to move is about being around nice people in a nice environment, like California was 40 years ago in smaller towns.

I'm going to have to purchase out of state for a buy and hold investment unless things miraculously tank, which isn't as likely as the market plateauing for a period from what i can tell. 

this is not entirely true; if the market tanks, you'll have renters lose jobs or have cut backs. 

Leaking underground oil tanks, zoning issues, third-party easements, lead paint or asbestos, foundation problems, title issues, flood zone reclassification, etc etcSome of these could prevent financing but are solvable long term, so perhaps if you can pay cash you'd be OK.  

(I learned here, better to pay for extra systems than to hope to get it back in rent, so two new heaters were installed as wel as two more hot water tanks.)

My husband and I have some cash left from a refi and we realized that the stock market is tanking, so our opportunity to invest there and pause on properties.

Oil tank problems

But the trick is to find what works and what is not just sharks eating minnows.

There is no sewer.Come yesterday, I found that not only did I not have a city sewer, I don’t even have a septic tank; the drain goes straight into the dirt.Estimated cost to attach the house to the main sewer is 30k, the actual livable sqfootage is closer to 705 (2nd floor height is 6ft) and this house is actually a 2 bed home.

Those minnows are swimming with the sharks for sellers.