They've insured the title then the former owner file a lawsuit and got their property back.The courts in general feel that forfeiture of real estate is too harsh an outcome for not paying your taxes and sometimes the amount owed is tiny in compared to the value of the property. 

I figured I'd give house-hacking a residential duplex/triplex a try first to get my feet on the ground before tackling something bigger (though definitely want to go for bigger properties eventually, economies of scale make it more profitable I'd think)

https://www.affordableopeners.com/doorbird-ip-vide...This system fits our criteria but we haven't been able to find any reviews on it so we are a bit skeptical and want to compare it to other options.  

Not exactly sure how we compare with other areas in Illinois or even out-of-state but enrollment here is continuing to increase and those students need someplace to live, especially the internationals that are just dishing out money like crazy!

Your awful tenants are nothing compared to what bad tenants are actually like.

Just to compare notes and knowledge.

How does that compare with the rest of the market?

We'd like to start getting all our ducks in a row so we can hit the ground running once we find a property.

I was shown a few places, compared them to the neighborhood and saw I was getting good cash flow, but there was no equity build up I was actually paying more then it was worth and would maybe sell in the future.I decided to flip it back and just learn the basics by practacing the BRRRR in my home state instead, here I can still find 25-35k houses with new kitchen/bathroom cosmetic work for 15-20k, total price in 50-55 that would rent for 695/750.

How do you figure out in that situation what you could price a renovated house at when none of the comps can compare?