I understand you don't need a lot of space, but you are paying someone else's mortgage.I would start with a fixer-upper investment, up to four units.

100% worth it to post on Furnished Finder, but you need to make sure that you understand it is not a booking site.

I understand if you don't want to do that.

.- Understand what you value . . . do you want to have a phone call from the PM every Friday? 

Best way to understand this is research appraisal standards and means. 

After researching the basics, I am looking forward to understanding the realistic steps in concluding a first deal.

Also any tips for automating this as much as possible and how to protect the property financially and property management would be appreciated.I ALMOST understand the rental arbitrage strategy if building a company scaling with say 30 + units and looking for high short term cash flow.  

But, the more you ask, the more details you seek, the more likely you will expose their true understanding and ability to manage managers.3) Again, this is all questions.  

Add in community involvement any way you can.

Second, there isn't a lot of info here and that is understandable. 1.