@Kenny Dahill Spot on advice there! 

I took over the house with almost all its belongings (including two sweet bikes I took to burning man).

Sand down roof and side rust spots first, then prime.

one of the challenges in the hood here in Tampa is that landlords are offering ridiculously sweet deals to tenants i.e. "$99 moves you in"  if you are a deep pocketed investor with tons of properties you can afford to fix your property if someone from the hood destroys it.  

I dislike popcorn because fixing spots where it is damaged isn't easy.

Populations in the 300-500K range are generally a good sweet spot.Roll multiple smaller cities/towns up into one larger “target market” if you need to Reasonable Property PricesStaying at or slightly below median market value increases your odds of success since there are more buyers/sellersHigher price points can be very lucrative but typically require more time/money for marketingGrowing or Stable EconomyTarget market should have positive economic growth expectations.

If I can spray bleach on a moldy spot and be good to go, then awesome, but if it requires licensed contractors, so I don't end up in some mold lawsuit down the road, then I'm trying to figure that out on the front end. 

Short and sweet? 

With such a widespread community I know someone has had a similar starting spot and can shed some “light on the (dark room I’m walking into) so to speak”.

Maybe its just luck, but I get 5+ applications each time, my last 2 open houses i rented it out within 1 hour on the spot (contingent on app approval).