Many of the cities on your list are in the Southeast, which is perfect if you want to bet on appreciation but not that great if you want a steady cash flow, if your goal is to generate some passive income target the midwest, and stick to solid suburban B areas, don't make the same mistake as many other OOS investors did chasing high double-digit returns in C-D areas, these returns only exist on paper. 

I bet you could find something nice to househack and then pay yourself rent for a change. 

Hang tough....I've been through similar to you and I bet a lot on here have as well.....

These calculators rock and do allow you much more flexibility than the BP ones, including being able to adjust how much of the rehab is being financed.

You can create some accountability here by telling tenants the utility fee will adjust up if usage is too high. 

I'll bet @paulsandhu will have a take, but I was just thinking back as I was answering another post and had to chuckle....So what are some oddities you've seen in houses that you've bought to flip or rent?

Thank you for sharing your story and wishing you the bets of luck. 

If you are not finding any deals you need to adjust your criteria or expand your geographic area. 

@Caleb Stevens unless you need some serious deep cleaning on really expensive carpets then your best bet is to rent one at home depot for a fraction of the price.

I am in the process of researching, but as you may know, switching business checking accounts takes some adjustments that can be time consuming.I have 4 rental properties.  2 use Zillow and 2 mail in their checks.