Hit him up as he can explain it better than me but it sounded perfect for flips. 

You sound like you have begun a good relationship with yours already.  

There seems to be stuff on the market down there in the 50-60K range that needs serious updating but otherwise seems to be more or less sound -- but I'm just looking through listings.

The house was built in the 50's and the plumbing was upgraded at some point to copper and most of the major items were replaced at some point and time to meet more modern standards.

Owner financing to me seems worse than just renting on a property that needs a ton of work it sounds like a legal nightmare trying to foreclose on someone who stops making payments because they think you sold them a lemon.

It would require insecticide applications on a daily basis in some areas, and this is not efficient or environmentally sound.

If the below doesn't sound right please comment. 

Why try to take a neighborhood on yourself when it sounds like there is also neighborhoods around you where you can ride the the wave?

However, It sounds like you might not have ever done a short term rental before so I would take your question back one step to make sure that STRs is what you truly want to do. 

@Adam Mittermeier  On the surface this just doesn't sound like a deal.