I own a contracting business here in Illinois and I know from experience that finding good contractors/subcontractors and keeping good labor crews is a challenge.  

Doing the math isn't that difficult in terms of return on investment but the biggest question in my mind is...is it worth it?

Accountability partner- sometimes you need someone to light a fire under your butt to take action, so you do what you need to do.I'm probably forgetting some things and not doing the gurus justice... lol... but I would say the personalized support and the hand-holding are the biggest benefits.

This makes it very difficult to qualify for an exception as it would be challenging/impossible to rent out as a "long term rental" - which I can't quite tell what is defined as.Any thoughts on strategies or ideas on how to deal with this, aside from simply selling and getting out?

The biggest thing to consider in hurricane risk management areas such as Baton Rouge is your wind and hail (W&H) deductible, this can also be called a hurricane deductible/named storm or tropical cyclone deductible.

Those are more challenging neighborhoods for sure. 

The biggest problem is fluctuating income here.

I think you will be challenged to build a 1400Sqft new house for 100K in Dallas.

Less competition if you know where to look the owner doesn’t know who the biggest investor in town is and like yourself shouldn’t care either.

Curious as to what challenges a situation like this may present an investor working through a property manager.