Because we HAVE to suck it up and rent for a little bit, I am trying to minimize moving twice in one year and interested in rent to own properties.In my search for rentals, I came across various companies that specialize in rent to own options.

A bpo is basically some rookie agent or associate going by a property snapping a few photos dumped into a file that they pull comps and county data on and say house needs minimal work etc and comps are not comps as your property most likely could end up a REO and using a house three doors down with new kitchens and baths does you no goodYou really need to do a lot of the work yourself as house value is critical with 1st position notes

I am not minimizing what is happening to them but looking at it from real estate,  the deeper scars will come if shootings and violence continue.  

Then sell when things are at a bottom to minimize your losses.

I manage them all my self and I haven’t had to many issues and COVID has been minimal ( one of my tenants lost their job.)

By living in the smallest living space available, you will minimize your cost and also spread your risk among multiple tenants.

Both of those needed a bit of work (one ended up needing more than we thought), but we fixed them up to minimize repairs and get them rented quickly.

You may need to lower the rent to minimize vacancy loss and get a larger pool of potential renters but you will rent the apartment (with minimum vacancy loss).

To my simplified way of thinking the only disadvantage is the cost, which in all honestly is pretty minimal.

Could be a deal worth doing, but it might take a couple years to increase rents to market rates and minimal vacancies.