@Kevin Moules. Nice thread you started here. Yes?
I had to look up P.O.S. so no, not part of my world at this point. I do consider property taxes on the high side in Cincy, but at the same time part of the of the relative business model that relates to the area a property is in. A cost that is ultimately reflected in appropriate rents.
When I was deciding what markets to invest in I did reject a few cities, pretty much over the tax rates. In retrospect, I did put a lot of weight on tax rates, not so much because it was an iffy business model, more because it bugged me too much. Which might be a good example of trying not to be emotional about this stuff.
However, in some cities it is very cloudy on what will happen to your near future taxes, when inevitable re-assessments happen. Since the tax assessment process varies so widely around the country or county or region (and in some places even from town to town that border each other). So I stayed away from a couple of markets that were like 3 percent of some tagged assessed value and then heading towards some vague unknown massive re-assessment due to a hefty new purchase price. Ohio has a procedure that can be planned for to some degree, but where it's heading in terms of $$ can be vague. There are purchasing strategies to control a little or some of this in some cases.
In California, I still own a house. As you probably know Kevin, due to prop 13 in the 70's, property tax is shortly after a sale re-assessed pretty much at the sales price and then typically is adjusted over the years at a slower pace than the market. Then for a new buyer a re-assessment based on sales price again. Which is pretty easy to comprehend and so possible to forecast. This is true for residential and commercial property, which I owned there for a long time as well. In my cases the tax rate in CA was maybe 2/3 of Cincinnati. So in CA, if you only strategy or consideration was property taxes, you would buy and hold forever. Because the market value would rise and you'd still have a lower property tax bill than any new owner of the same.
In Massachusetts where I also own property, it's done town-by-town. In this particular town of Massachusetts they re-assess upon sale, but the town's value tends to lag below market value. They actual tax rate is less than 1/2 here than Cincy (but that is because this town does well with summer tourism and the property owners catch a break that way). Other parts of Massachusetts are just as high or higher than Cincinnati.
In Cincy the system is convoluted as it is in many districts: The county deems a market value, and then takes 35 percent to mark the assessed value. Then apply a mill rate, reduced to an effective mill rate, which is multiplied to assessed value. Relative to my recent 3 purchase prices, this is roughly (roughly) 2 percent. A little more on one property, a little less on the other two. But this is a long term conversation, because current taxes are actually previous owner's taxes, not mine.
One other thing that has been a "surprising" cost is water and sewer. Like a lot of cities in that region water and sewer is expensive. here at my house in Mass, the last water bill came and 6 months of water and the whole bill was under $60. Which is absurdly cheap. It was also absurdly cheap all my years living full time in CA. I always knew that. Cincy water and sewer is REALLY expensive. Or at least that is my perception. And this may come as a surprise, but most of my tenants (all have water/sewer included) aren't particularly conservation minded. We recently did an eviction and it was reported to me that the tub was running when we took over the unit. Not 100 percent maliciously, but because the faucet wouldn't shut off and they never reported it as a maintenance need. Whether you care about water waste or not, I don't know how you live with that. One of my properties (that one) still has a water/sewer bill that rivals the mortgage and is the #2 single expense on that property. Again, aside from the idea of water being wasted as a source of irritation for me, the raw cost of it from a business point of view is no matter, as long as you can roll it into appropriate rent. I've heard rule of thumb of $20 per occupant, so 2 occupants in a unit $40. Mine is higher that, so either more occupants than an average of 2, or the rule of thumb is off. More like $55 to $65 per unit on average. One property in particular. And low flow toilets are only so helpful if people leave their kitchen sinks running . I recently spent some time around all my Cincy properties and the very first thing I ran into was one of the laundry sinks running. How long? 5 minutes or for all of last month?
There might be a future solve. Sub metering (if viable), but also have to consider what is expected/standard in an area when other apartments include water, and you don't. Such things are delicate.