I work as a data analyst here in Charlotte, 7am to 4pm and it is a good job but I know for a fact that I’m not going to be doing this forever as I want to have financial independence.

Handful of large offices with equally large budgets for data aggregation and sorting, call centers, and a handful of poorly trained reps.  

I would update your lease to include fines after an initial warning about leaving trash or personal items in the common space.I wouldn't allow tenants to mail in the rent.I allow them to deposit directly into my account, ACH or Zelle.Maybe get extra trash cans so that they don't have to leave their bagged trash by a full can.

@Ryan McGrath I think your first concern is to make sure it's a legal rooming house or to understand the steps that it will take to make it one - which I'll bet would include things like extra egresses and a sprinkler system.One incident / phone call / police visit where word gets back to the building inspector and you might find a big red "VIOLATION" sticker on your front door.Next, I'd want to do some forensic accounting. 

It took 1 year to get all of the offices and the 7 extra parking spaces leased out, but now it cash flows beautifully. 

(This single thing cost us about $6K extra in revenue. )  ARV was $160K. 

That is where you can establish a solid ARV, maybe go to a real estate investor meeting as soon as you are able because as the others have said, you should not have much confidence in what tools like Zillow give for the data.

Megan Law data base.

My back-of-napkin math so far seems to suggest that going for the bigger unit won't necessarily bring in a lot of extra rent, but could add a lot of value when I sell it, so I'd be absorbing a lot of extra taxes for the time I own the property.Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated,Michael

I was looking to purchase a property, but based on my county's Tax Delinquent Data, the house has been set to a judgement date that recently passed.