Beyond that, there are data sources like RealEFlow and others that can give you more property-level information.

How many levels are you taking about?

A lot depends on your comfort level. 

But all depends on your level of risk you are willing to take!

But should something bad happen, you will be happy that you have some level of protection by having it permitted.Downsides of pulling permits: you can open yourself up to more work than you thought. 

For that likely need a local brokerage working on the kind of real estate you are interested in at a high level.  

A range of neighborhoods, risk levels, property types, strategies.

@Santhosh Nair  each strategy will come with a different level of risk, varying degrees of active participation, and each will net different results.

Multi state returns may be needed at both entity and individual level but of course depends on your entity structure.

I am sorry for such a low level stump so to speak, but I am torn on this and my network of support is lacking since I haven’t put the work into building it.