One of my all-time favorite road trips was with some friends to do the Green Mountain Steelman triathlon in Brattleboro in 1986.  

I just came back from a trip to Kansas City to get a better feel of the areas I am looking to invest in.

haha. thats how i've gotten most of my experience so far, a split between HH, mission trips, and relatives that have needed some assistance. 

You'll have to (or should) take a trip or two a year to just check-in on them.

I had been there before but in my last trip I was struck by how cool a lot of the areas are, good coffee, good restaurants, love all the brick.

@Drew Slew  if somebody buys a house using a conventional mortgage then deeds it over to you it could trip the due on sale clause causing the loan to be due.  

about 4 years ago I came back from 2 year overseas mission trips without any money to invest and I did a 203k loan for the first deal and it went great it was a little complicated because you have to get quotes from contractors and things but it was manageableOn the next house I did a conventional loanOn the house after that I had enough to pay cash As a owner occupant sometimes you can put zero down and you can buy a house with the first look initiative before the investors start throwing around cashIt's best in the beginning 2 do a conventional loan as opposed to hard money because with a conventional loan you can stay in the house as long as it takes to get it done and you would have had your house mortgage payment anyways you're not losing money but with a hard money guy the clock is tickingI use a site called foreclosure.com it cost about $40 a month so I cancel it as soon as I'm done buying a house because I'm cheap:-)Finding a good realtor that deals in foreclosures is a great asset also some Realtors are good at selling expensive houses and some are good at finding cheap deals sometimes I use different realtors to buy and sell my propertiesI do all the work on my houses myself it saves so much money doing it that way and I get to buy a lot of tools:-) the house that I have listed for sale now cost $70,000 of material if I would have had to pay contractors it would have cost $140,000 so it's a lot easier to find a profitable deal doing it all myself, and maybe a basic laborer that I paid $10 an hourHope this helps

Estimate gas and tolls are about $25 round-trip, so that will add up too if I'm doing that often. 

I actually just booked a room at TI for an upcoming trip to vegas.  

Of course having the home Truly renovated is a must as well IE new roof  mechanicals plumbing electrical windows and waste line.. if you have those you have a unit that will not eat you alive.so if does not matter if you buy then all in one market. and its probably eaiser .. if you need to go there its one trip.. one tax return etc etc.