I'm biased and can provide reasons and data to show that using an agent will protect you, get you more money, less stress and so on.The reality is you can do it yourself, but tenants generally don't cooperate with showings and that causes lots of problems for buyer to access the unit to show, inspections, appraisals etc.

If you don't have that, keep earning, saving, and managing the risk you take by investing in REITs (which is small but risk still exists).If you already have at least $100k to invest, and you're wondering where to start as an OOS investor, I recommend this dataset that we at BiggerPockets put together specifically for people like you and me.https://www.biggerpockets.com/resources/housing-market-data/...It contains information like job growth, population growth, and rent-price ratio for all markets to compare and contrast.

I dont know, maybe economic data.

I average these two numbers and use that as a baseline, adding a reasonable buffer to set the threshold.This approach helps ensure that tenants don’t feel micromanaged but also protects you from excessive utility usage.

Columbus has become a major tech hub in the midwest with large companies like Intel investing $20 billion, Amazon investing $3.5 billion, Google building 2 new data centers: one in downtown Columbus and the other in right outside of U.S. 33 in Lancaster.I recommend working with an investor-friendly agent who focuses on cold-outreach methods like cold-calling, cold-texting, etc to bring you off-market deals.

I think I'll pass on this company.Hire people and ensure that they are successful.

Many investors choose a profit-sharing model for true equity partners, often splitting profits 50/50 or based on the level of their contribution to the deal, but ensure everything is clearly defined in writing to avoid misunderstanding/miscommunication. 

A HELOC can be flexible, but ensure you have solid cash flow to cover repayments. 401K loans carry risks like penalties if not repaid on time.5.

All units have vinyl plank flooring.1% rule would make the listing price 570,000 using my LTR data.

I would increase their deposit by that amount to ensure you have enough to cover an empty tank and a month of lost rent.