Verify employment and call previous landlords to avoid tenants with red flags.Rent Setting: Research comparable rentals in your neighborhood to ensure your rent is competitive.Use Technology: RentRedi is a great choice.

The big pros are the strong job market (lots of major employers), good population growth, and still-reasonable entry prices.

Make sure you talk to a Banker or Loan officer that is well versed in both SE (Self Employed) income and also Non/QM programs.One tip I will give you as a Banker is open up a "Business Checking account" and for the next 12 months pay "Everything" out of that account. 

Employers who prey on such vulnerable persons are screwed, and rightfully so. 

Another thing to note is that if you’re self employed with no full time W2 outside yourself and a spouse a solo 401k is exempt from UBIT on leveraged real estate.  

They have taken strides to pave the way for ADUs - here’s the implications for real estate investors.It's crucial to understand Raleigh’s zoning rules for ADUs BEFORE deciding to implement this strategy on your current or future long term rental, Airbnb, student housing, MTR, house hack, flip, etc.

File lien if you find assets. (3) File wage and bank garnishment if you have bank account number and current employer. (4) In most cases it is impossible to find current whereabouts of the tenant to serve any papers (garnishment papers)(5) We have started asking for car insurance cards to get information on the car, the only asset most tenants posses.(6) We have not been able to find new address of any of the evicted tenants.

When choosing a location for your first rental, it’s great that you’re considering factors like crime rate, population growth, employment rate, and price-to-rent ratio—those are all key metrics.

We are both self employed so retirement is something we have both started thinking about.

If you need to stay in DC for employment than I would recommend house hacking something, although I'm not sure how far 50k will take you there.