My agent got the accepted offer and then said "congrats, now the work starts

That Akron price point is real, I have been watching that market and the spreads are still there but you are right that the operational side hits different when you are the one who set it up from scratch. Estoppel letters especially, because tenants in Ohio will tell you one thing verbally and the lease says something completely different, and now you own that gap. The utility account transfers are the one I always underestimate on time, Akron municipal utilities can drag that process out two or three weeks if you are not pushing them. Your agent did you a favor by naming it out loud even if the timing felt like a gut punch.

@diane_kowalski hasn't weighed in yet so I'll add what bit me hardest on my first actual purchase versus the inherited situation. The utility account transfers took me six weeks longer than anything else because one tenant had the electric in their name and the landlord account had lapsed, and the utility company treated me like a new applicant with zero history. That was a $340 deposit I did not expect. The estoppel letters sound bureaucratic until a tenant tells you verbally that the previous owner promised them a month of free rent and you have nothing in writing to push back with. Two of those situations and you will never skip that step again. The lease audit on a duplex feels small but do it line by line because the Columbus inherited situation you described is exactly how people carry over clauses that would not survive a court challenge in the new state or county. Your agent is right, the post-close window is where the deal actually gets set up or quietly starts to unravel.

Estoppel letters cost me six weeks and one bad tenant in Wrocław, never again without them day one.