The markets lately have been scary and imagine if you lost $1k of value of that $5k over a weeks time due to market timing.. or you put it into something that wasn't as liquid (bond offering, CD..etc) and then had to scramble to find $3k for that repair and charge a credit card or something...

Determine the property Class (A,B,C,D) is necessary.  

Some major corporate players have invested in Pittsburgh and our city has become the testing ground for Uber's driverless car service.

Can anyone from that area tell me a bit about the area (Class A/B/C/D) and help me to understand if this is a rough area or not?

Have you been to any local REI meetings and networked with any of the local players in your market?

Many of the big players scooped up much of their r/e 5 yrs ago.  

Low cost houses in Class C/D neighborhoods are risky, no matter where you are. 3) See question #1.

It's not the best comparison, but CD rates run higher than that.

With deficiencies, no one is going to loan you on the property, so you'll have to plan on self-funding or funding outside traditional position players. 

My broker says he's very aggressive and says he does these all the time, but I know all the big players in this area and none of the landlords that I know are going to pay more than $30K -$35K 'cash' of their own money with that kind of risk (4 years that 'heirs' might come forward and claim rights to the property being the biggest).