New with questions

[Kyle Parker]

Hello All,

I am a young professional interested in rental properties and have lots of questions.

The area (or market) i am in, seems very saturated with tons of place already available for rent.  Do you analyze an area before you buy a good (jk) a GREAT deal?  Would a saturated place with lots of places to rent on the market prevent you from buying a property? 

For those of you who own properties not in the city you live in, how do you do it? Do you use property managers and just collect the rent check (sounds nice:) )?  I only ask because there are 2 other areas i think might be better/easier to get a rental property and rent it out but I would not live in that city.

I currently rent a house to live in, my wife thinks we should buy a house 1st then look at buying rental property.  I kind of think buying a rental property now might be better.  My reason is a rental property will help make cash flow (i hope) compared to now, where the money is just sitting in a bank account.  We currently have 8 months left on our lease.  Is it wrong to buy a real house (one to live in) and an investment property?  Will it be hard to get a loan for both, or the 2nd property?  My dad (a very wise man) thinks i should save money and buy a house when our lease ends, this seems far away. Any advice on this subject?

How do you find a good contractor?  Google?

I've read it is important to have a good real estate agent, one that will work for you (or something like that), how do you find a good agent?  Trial and error?

How do you find the taxes on a property?

I am tending to lean towards a property that is already rented out (I guess cause I will have quick cash flow once i purchase it).  Is this okay?  Any downsides to this?  I read a good percentage of your profit can come from upgrading your property, is there anyone who buys places already set up to rent out?  I am not sure I would be the best flipper.

Thank you- Kyle P.