I have about 12 years experience with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Systems Engineering. 

Greg,Thanks for replying.I have been torn on whether or not to separate into 4 different heating units (costly to say the least). i can't find any flow meters that would work like I want on a fuel oil system. nat gas is not an option.

The neighboring cities are more expensive to purchase, but better areas, have better school systems, but cash flow less. 

If you pulled the permit as a homeowner...you've already tried to sidestep the system and now have a problem.  

Baltimore has a huge sale every year and I noticed that many of the liens are have very high taxes versus the value of the property.

I believe its easier to lose short term versus long term, long term allows you to pay down the principle and hopefully expect some appreciation, i think the final goal should be to have properties free and clear some day, if you buy right and hold the property, manage it well, i see it hard to lose money over a 10+ year term doing the buy and hold scenario, on the other hand you can easily lose money buying and selling several homes yearly.  

My business partner and I are trying to invest in 4 plexes around our city and want to be able to have a good draw to rent from us versus the larger and newer apartments in the area.

I have used it myself as a renter and think it is a pretty user-friendly system.  

Generally, sellers use the NROC to weed out people that won't take care of the property, and eventually end up opting out.To be fair though, the L2O system is set up to reward the owner if the buyer makes a mistake, because they can keep getting NROC from new buyers when old ones are evicted/decide to move for whatever reason.  

Are you familiar with a system called Rently  ( use.rently.com) ?