The electric bills have been huge, come to find out the tenant in the largest apartment was afraid of her gas heater, it seemed too hot, so she bought 5 large electric blower/heaters.

Just exited to get a first deal under my belt.

I could see electric heat being a problem if it was conventional electric baseboard heat where there is no fan, but it seems that when using an electric coil heater with a blower on it as well that it can be a very efficient way to heat a space.

With more education and experience under my belt, I now realize they were probably hoping I would become a bird-dog for them.

Cleveland in particular is located in the rust belt, which is characterized by losing population over the last 40 years. 

I'm a REI and have one property under my belt. 

Keeping a GC close/attached to your belt during your initial refurb investigation will help.

Once we had a few under our belt, we explored into the rehab and hold market.

These are usually bigger factors to keeping heating / cooling costs down than getting a more energy efficient heating system.You can get a blower test to see how air tight the place is, and you might be able to get an energy audit that does that as well as checks on everything I've mentioned, suggests upgrades, etc., and you can pick and choose what's worth spending money on.  

the BP rules do NOT work in most of the west coast.. they are simply a rust belt mid west deep south formula.. that is also starting to not work there.. so I would say those numbers are post GFC numbers.. and were great if you can get them.. now if you buy in very risky areas with high crime and suspect tenants you will hit those rules.. generally speaking.Maybe you look at Creswell  or junction city  type of place maybe get a little better deal.. good luck