But maybe this is a regional/market difference?

When nobody else was doing them they were unique and stood out.

Not our most costly but our most unique.  

I doubt your lender at a regional bank will be creative, so you will probably have to live in the property for a while. 

Western PA is a pretty big region.

But generally, what should I expect from the city in terms of requirements to allow me to rehab the property that are unique to it being fire damaged?

There are specific regions of the country I'm eyeballing, but they are broad swaths (PacWest, Great Lakes, etc.).I need to narrow it down to specific cities.What are your tips for how to evaluate, from afar, the right OOS cities for investment?

It is difficult to figure out what is going on in your post.If I understand correctly: that you have a property management business (LLC 1) and you recently bought a commercial property under a separate LLC (LLC 2) and that you want a rental agreement between the two LLCs.Just make it arms-length and fair market to avoid problems.If both LLCs are disregarded for federal income tax purposes, the lease will also be disregarded and won't be respected for federal income tax purposes.If the management LLC is an S Corp, you'll have a self-rental situation that has unique passive activity loss rules.Your professional advisors can fill you in on the details.

My wife's full-time job is raising our children, but her side hustle is managing the day to day operations of the Airbnb, so we have a unique situation that would allow us replicate this model in the future :). 

I am no longer local to the north texas region, but I have excellent connections in the area, and know the market quite well based on previous experience living there.