You must not follow your instinct and attempt to invest as little as possible into the renovations thinking "If someone is willing to live in this neighborhood there is no way they have standards". 

We've helped hundreds of investors in the Metro Detroit area and are the only ones analyzing Detroit's 183+ Neighborhoods to ID the best ones to invest in. 

On the flip side, if you've got a bunch of Section 8 tenants living in a building that's in a neighborhood where a lot of the tenant base has good jobs, high credit scores, and are generally reliable people, you've got the most risky tenants in that tenant base and that ain't what ya want.

here in Pittsburgh for example, you can buy properties in OK neighborhoods for $50-60K that need $80-100K rehabs. 

Your HOA also will have to unless they are organized as a 501c3 which most are not.

It would be pretty hard to buy $500+ per month cash flow unless you were buying in some rough neighborhoods. 

It doesn't matter what your rental income is.Anyone could buy in your neighborhood and make a STR.

We have many of these in the nice neighborhoods of Chicago and you get easy tenants, rent increases and appreciation.

For property selection, choosing a duplex or triplex in a good neighborhood can provide steady cash flow, while adding an ADU to a single-family home works well in areas with high rental demand like Portland.

All the ingredients exist, it only needs organization and leadership.