We are preparing our house for rent and need to update our stairs spindles and steps.

They also will pay higher rents.

Try looking into zillow/Redfin and see what your potential rents you can get near the neighborhood by filtering the bedrooms/bathrooms of the intentional property that you are planning to buy.

You don't own the land, you rent it.

I am currently renting out one of my short term rental houses to ALE for 1.5 month and rent is $6800.

A long term rental in the area would rent for about $1,800 a month, so as a backup that wouldn't be a great option.

Then you’re free to rent it out.

The expectation is to rent it out, once I make a few upgrades myself that I had planned on doing such as new appliances and a few more cosmetic upgrades.

Pretty much any market right now is going to seem overpriced when you look at price to rent ratios and it's a rocky time to start flipping with rates doubling in a couple months.

The eviction is for nonpayment of rent