After expenses, it will be cash flowing 1k/month.My thought of doing a 1031 exchange seems like an option..trade in a 170k house for a few 250k homes and increase my portfolio by 600k.

I moved from Connecticut to Columbus, Ohio in 2012 and started investing in 2017 with a house hack

If we put a tenant in the house we will have to pay the state back their $8,000 of assistance.Loan Balance: $150KCapital Required to Rent: $10K ($8K to pay out the state and $2K that I put into professional cleaning and new carpets.) 

Most rust belt cities are similar, older housing stock, lower prices, higher risk.  

The house is also really nicely renovated and I have been told that section 8 tenants do not often take care of a property. 

I can understand that low cost housing will appeal appeal to a different tenant profile, but if the product itself is very good won't it also attract the kind of tenant you want more readily?!?

And then of course, I'll be able to enjoy the benefits of the voucher payment from the Housing Authority. 

I have a house for rent and have been approached by a Blue Orion (blueorion.co) that wants to lease and sublet it to corporate clients.

Or, you could also pull a list of pre-foreclosures, skip-trace, contact sellers and see if you could help them get out of the house with less damage and loss than if their house went through foreclosure. 

Also this house was in a 500 year floodplain and a very small deck off the back.