Stay healthy, stay away from bad people.Some ideas to find the deals:walk/drive neighborhoods, look for neglected propertiesadvertise, newspapers, radio, pass out flyersWrite a nice letter to landlordsWhen housing court starts up again, meet landlords there - chatCall and visit owners of Expired Listings - make offersBuild a relationship with a few Realtors, offer to pay them a fee (3-5% of purchase price for unlisted buildings) for presenting your offers to FSBO's and expired listings (auto pilot investing) The purpose behind this is to open negotiations with sellers, I always offer well below their asking price BUT IN WRITING hand delivered by an agent (you save time, cost of gas and you increase the odds of finding a fat equity deal)Study Real Estate Control techniques; delayed settlement, assignment clauses, all types of options, hybrid or JV with sellers, repair consideration with possession (known as front porch offers) use one of the 21 proposals for seller financing (the best highest leverage financing you can get)My LOCK-DOWN has proven to be profitable, I have time to network and develop clients nationwide to mentor/partner transactions.

Other area that you an get a STR permit without a homestead exemption requires commerical zoning (think apartments complexes) and even there, there is limits to how many days you can rent it. 

She and I are currently in a court battle.

Could you stand up in court and tell a judge that it was clear they caused the damage?

I can see the courts so backed up, that your tenants could live the year or more without payment. the kicker, is that to protect your investment, you will STILL need to do maintenance.I wonder, if the law that allows a tenant to live for free, would charge me for failure to keep certain provisions like heat, air, cable, water, sewer and more in place when my funds say no!

Do you usually use official sources such as court documents, or go through the white pages?  

I own a large complex in Georgian Acres and my avg "effective" rents are $1240 and that's with 2 different studios in the floor plan mix.

The new rate has to be high enough to cause pain to the tenant, but not so high that a court would reject it.

@Igor Nastaskin it really depends on what street this complex is on. 

We manage a 112 unit condominium complex near coffee bluff that would be very similar to this.