The 3 towns are highly desirable locations to live and inventory is low.

Since you are going to live in one side you may be getting emotionally involved and wanting to satisfy your own desires. 

In desirable areas especially, if the surround is in great shape, why spend the money to replace it?

And, you need to learn why your unit is not as desirable, such as price, location, condition, etc. 

Most wholesalers have no desire or funds to buy the propertyI did contribute.

Why do you desire to get everyone on a 1 year lease? 

Their contract listed rent as $100/mo discount to the desired rent for mowing grass.

Curious if anyone invests in the area or is a current resident and could share their opinions (good or bad) about the area.I’m looking to buy and hold small multifamily and ran some initial analysis of properties and a fair amount pass the 1% rule, but I’m unsure of the desirability of the area.

I know there's a lot of factors involved in determining a market's desirability for investments, but on a very basic scale, is finding historical data that reveals such strong metrics in a market a sign to invest, or does it signal that the market is now hot?

I don't currently have a mentor but I reached out to someone to be my mentor simply because they're doing what I desire (I haven't heard anything yet).