@Jose Dedomenico The sold data that you see on Zillow is pulled from the MLS so that may be a good place to start initially, but these other websites that specialize in property research are more user friendly if you plan on scaling in your research.

I'm from a bit more south and only know what I can see from MLS data and google street views.

If there's not enough data, slowly push out the radius and the time frame.The sold homes should be similar in design. 

Any data/information that can help me develop my investment plan would be greatly appreciated.

Forgione also said the city would need to hire someone to help track occupancy data and identify law-breaking rental properties."

When you find a deal and it meets your criteria for your above mentioned data points as well as your ROI, you can go act on it, ie LOI, PSA and so on. 

The second lender said they could do 80% occupancy from AirDNA data - talking with them today!

The access to data and trends in priceless.

Personally I like to look at the past 90 days but if there is no data you'll have to go back farther or have a "desktop appraisal" done.Appraisals of any kind cost money, desktop appraisals might be $50.00...BUT, just because the seller is motivated, don't assume you can make the deal work.

Data backup, on site and off site--High speed internet access--PC's with Microsoft Office and Exchange, fully managed and supported.