Investing out of area is no rocket science but it does require set of skills and systems to follow. 

It's not a very high-skill business on the individual employee level.

My RE agents had been unable (or unwilling) to find a tenant for ANY of my space!!

Then you will need to incorporate another set of interpersonal skills into this transaction process to make it go through.

I believe my job has given me the skills to tackle on this career path. 

I have many skills to bring.

If Seller is unwilling to take the "Hickey" or reduction in price, you may be able to add the Closing Costs to the price and have Seller pay them in that scenario. 

Often it is a matter of finding properties that match your advantages, if you are skilled and can do some work yourself, if you know rents in the area (or have a real estate agent that also manages properties in many different areas), everyone brings something to the table.

I wouldn't necessarily say it's any more littered than than any form of passive syndication where OPM is used by someone who may or may not be actually skilled enough to produce. 

In order to do this you’re going to have to do rehab and fix problems that most people would be unwilling to fix.