Kentucky rental homes

[Shane Edwards]

I've been listening to bigger pockets podcasts and listened to a couple books. Im ready to put my money to work. I'm considering partnering with a friend out of state, I live in Michigan and she lives in Kentucky. She is a home inspector and has done some contracting work in the past and I travel for work. I'm considering buying SFH in Kentucky. She will be doing the inspections, quoting potential repairs, project managing, and potentially property managing the properties. I plan on paying cash for the properties, then efficiently adding as much value as I can, then financing. I haven't talked to any lenders yet, however I have $125k cash with excellent credit. I also have a 401k I'm considering pulling out for real estate.

What do I need to be careful about? Ive ran some numbers on some properties in Louisville near the collage and they seem to work ok. Is there any reason Kentucky in particular would be a bad investment. Any obvious laws or restrictions on rentals there that would work against me?

Is there any reason I should be worried about paying cash for a house and not getting financing? Not sure how long that process takes? I don’t want to tie up my money in a property for too long.

Also any tips or pointers from experienced investors would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for you time in advance.