In contrast, Chicago’s prime location drives higher rental rates compared to many other cities in the Midwest, which can significantly impact your return on investment.

And then drive by to pick them all up.

Having all Section 8 tenants may cause you to have a higher cap rate on your exit due to a higher headache factor surrounding Section 8.

There are so many moving parts (variables) it will drive you crazy. 

Investments from CA tech companies is driving job and population growth. 

I'm an investor here in Columbus OH myself and have seen the city's solid and steady growth with strong economic fundamentals driving the market like major companies moving here (Meta, Intel, Google, Amazon, etc), job growth, and population growth.

The agent "worked" for 2 hours at the most including drive time to the closing.

Rae, I would keep checking the sites including FSBO, FaceBkMarktplace, and driving neighborhoods. 

Those are some factors that will determine your returns.

Of course you can manage for this and set aside funds however I suspect the risk and loss factor was/is far greater than the sponsor realized when they go in for this noble pursuit of helping homeowners save their homes..