Go to BUILD YOUR TEAM at the top of the screen and look for local investors or meetups in your area.

Appreciate any advice or insights from experienced landlords or investors!

I have been experiencing what you're talking about.

Greetings BP community, I recently joined a national senior care living development team.

Local REIA groups and meetups (check Meetup.com or BiggerPockets) are excellent for connecting with both new and experienced investors.I’d be happy to grab coffee and chat about the market or share insights.

I want to know more about the area and build a team that can help me purchase and manage properties.   

You should be going to real estate investor meetups to meet other, more experienced investors, instead of looking at markets farther away before you really know what you are doing.

Buying an out of state rental property from a realtor, wholesaler or off facebook or zillow etc as opposed to from an operation or turnkey provider who has an active, substancial, and effective boots on the ground team or teams to support you after you close on the sale. 

Also, our team has a lot of experience in working with Sec 8 residents and getting properties approved.

The biggest mistake I see out of state investors make is relying on others too much for direction and guidance instead of doing their own due diligence and building their own team that they actually meet and interviewRelying on one person who alleges that they have a 'team' built already that you can use as well can be a costly mistake.