Looking at Rehabbed Multifams

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Greetings everybody,

A few days ago, I got in contact with an apparently very competent RE player whose model is to buy and sell multifamilies. Basically, they find multifams in bad shape but in decent areas, fix them up, stabilize them, and then sell them about a year later.

Naturally, they're probably making 50%+ ROI on their money. But they seem to be selling them at a price where the resulting cap rate is about 12%+, and the cash on cash return will be about 15% for us in a relatively conservative case. So it could well be a win-win situation.

Here are my trepidations. One is that I have never dealt with properties quite as big as these before. I'm used to quads, duplexes, and maybe the occasional sixplex or so. The properties that I'm looking at now have 20+ units. They do come with managers and maintenance in place, so that's comforting, but I've never really worked so far removed from the day-to-day activities of landlording before. I'm going to be offsite for these investments, so I need to have my ducks in a row to deal with everything, vacancies, evictions, repairs, not to mention local and state regulations. The managers will take care of most of these things, but I can't help but think it's pretty much a necessity to retain a lawyer to let me know in case there's any paperwork I ought to be filling out, or licensing I need to stay on top of, just in case.

Another concern is that these buildings are not located in my immediate area, or any area that I'm yet familiar with. In my previous thread, I asked about the market in Toledo, Ohio, but now I need to know how to analyze areas on my own. The last thing I want is to buy an expensive investment--albeit at a reasonable price--and then see the area become a ghost town. So I need to figure out how to know whether or not the area will continue to provide decent tenants, going a few years into the future. 

I'm really excited about these deals, but very nervous too, as they're a definite step up from anything I have experience with in the past. They have the possibility to put my career and financial situation at a whole different standing, for better or for worse, so I greatly appreciate any advice or mentorship from the BiggerPockets community.