My husband and I live in the Greater Boston area and our current rental is in the city of Boston.

@Susan LittleIts tough to manage major rehabs in OOS markets. lots of good products available in your cities.

It took quite a while for it to rent and I don't know what it went for, but there's no way it got $1600/mo (1%) which is what one can get pretty steadily in second-tier cities in TX. 

If I lived in an apartment in Queens in New York City or in half a duplex in Pacifica, California, would I have a few thousand bucks invested in tools to fix houses and spend my day like today, where I worked on refinishing the oak strip floor of a bedroom and took a break to go to a tenant's house to change out a showerhead?

What are everybody's thoughts on  the rental ROI  in Kansas City?

I have read about some cities limiting the maximum unrelated renters. 

  - I'm sure you've thought of this already, but your town doesn't have to be tourist-heavy to be a good airbnb location - I've seen wildly successful short term rentals located near universities and hospitals and nowhere near a tourist destination. 

No war zones in any of those cities.

@Kai Van LeuvenIt’s sounds like you’ve gotten all the low hanging fruit, another couple things that come to mind Is reducing boring expenses that people typically dont shop or spend alot of time addressing;-taxes ( I don’t know how tuned in the city is to your remodel but you want to spend a little effort ensuring you don’t get hit with a property tax increase )- I’m not sure the type of tenants your looking to attract but a playground might go a long ways to adding value-Insurance ( anything you cad do to reduce your insurance?

I would file the federal tax return mainly for the ECI declaration and to submit the city return which is mandatory anyway.