You're definitely looking in the right area. 

Gives me hope there's a high ceiling, not Austin-like but enough upwards momentum to keep me happy.

I'm doing all our projects in Columbus Ohio but just relocated to miami. we do multifamily and mixed use development and entitlements I'll shoot you a PM. even people in miami that I meet the numbers are tough unless you do a high density proposal and are very well capitalized. 

It's certainly much harder now to cash flow while house hacking with high mortgage rates, but not impossible.

A good option might be a hard money loan for the front end at high leverage (15, 10, or at most 20% down) and then adding value and pulling out equity via a DSCR cash-out refinances qualified with AirDNA projections. 

I am very interested in a few properties, but the lack of an escrow is definitely unsettling.

A landlord does not need to provide a reasonable accommodation for an emotional support animal when:The property is an owner-occupied building with four or fewer unitsThe property is a single-family home sold or rented by the owner without the use of an agentThe emotional support animal poses a risk to the health or safety of other people, or a risk of substantial damage to property (but this risk must be specific to the animal and cannot be based solely on assumptions about the animal’s breed)"Definitely have a chat with a local attorney to ensure your local laws apply, nonetheless since its an owner occupant, it sounds like you have some recourse to deny this request. 

It definitely helped us game plan how to fix this.

If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing.

If you go through the MLS what you see are a TON of homes with high prices that are not pending sale.