How to invest out of state?

[Joel Palmer]

Hey everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster here  :)

I'm a buy-and-hold investor in Huntsville, AL, and I'm looking to diversify a little bit location-wise. I own 2 rentals here and the Huntsville market has been pretty good.  But I've always wanted my investments to be location agnostic, so I want to get to the point where I can pick up rentals in any state as long as the numbers are good.  I've gotten a pretty good system down for buying rentals locally (use cash to buy, get a mortgage on them shortly after, rinse and repeat [plus a lot of little details, but that's the gist]), but I had a few questions for buying out of state rentals.

1. Mortgages - I have a very good relation with a banker here.  Should I try to use him, or is it best to find a mortgage broker that's in the city where I'm buying?  I know I could ask the banker guy, but that seemed to have a little conflict of interest there...

2. Property manager - what's the best way to find a property manager in another town?  One property I'm interested in is in Independence/Kansas City, MO if anyone knows someone good!

3. Closing - do I have to be physically present at closing, or is it possible to do it from afar?  How does the logistics of that work?

Any extra advice is greatly appreciated!  I know I probably look like a bit of a newbie on this, and honestly I am when it comes to out of state stuff...  So any help would be awesome!

Thanks!

Joel