Check on the crime stats and the historic rents .

Leveraging the property with a long term mortgage allows the investorTake maximum cash out using stable fundsAllows the investor to take advantage of the lowest interest rates we've seen in generations (probably redundant to the first one, but the leg up investors have when using loan products that are both stable and have historically low interest rates can't be stressed enough)HELOC's on investor properties are much more difficult to get than a cash out refinanceThere are myriad loan products to use for long term wealth; conventional, DSCR and even interest onlyMany people recommend using a HELOC for their first investment property because most investors (yes, a sweeping generality) own their primary residence and it's fairly easy to leverage that property with a HELOC. 

Case Shiller has historical profit metrics for buy n hold RE for all major cities.  

Historically used my own funds.Each refinanced property holds ~20% of the new appraised value (post cash out).2) Given the current interest rate environment, net cash flow on potential BRRR properties I’m now considering is likely to be close to zero (rent minus mortgage payment, taxes and insurance).

I'd have no problem with zero/negative cash flow in an area that has historical appreciation and rent increases. 

If I have a lower return initially, but the safety of a historically appreciating area, then I'll sleep a slightly better at night knowing my exit strategy isn't going to be impacted drastically.

But 6% is a lot harder than 3-4%, even though its much more in line with historical norms.

Historically the best way to fight inflation is buy buying rental property (residential or commercial apartments) since I have seen over the past 30 years (my first single family rental house was bought in 1992...damn I am getting old..lol) that I can increase the rents and keep well ahead of inflation.  

Also, I have heard that in Old Louisville there are some specific parameters for exterior work, like window replacements, because it is an historic district.  

For the first time you see some correction in the macro data for summer rental occupancy and nightly rates, and with ultra competitive buyer sentiment giving tight or no margin on current prices because they’re priced not only for historically high COVID rates but for projecting HIGHER than those rates, I have to think that means we’ll see a correlated sale price correction after 2022 summer gross is below 2021 summer.