Have been passively listening to the podcasts or some time now and recently downloaded Real Estate Rookie.

I've been listening to a lot podcasts here and I see many young people start out in LCOL areas."

I learned about them from a Rent to Retirement podcast where they interviewed a former W2 FT sales guy in tech (that's me today...) turn real estate investor.

I suggest listening to the BP podcasts and reading through the blogs and books they offer.

I recommend that you find a trusted or recommended Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO), who can give you options for property-based loans (mostly investment loans) and they don't use your taxes but the P&L of the property.

It would likely be comparable to what you pay in the NE.Just google "Lexington County tax estimator" or whatever county you're interested in and you'll usually find a web tool from the County you can use to estimate the tax bill based on the previous year's assessments.There is also a law called the ATI tax exemption that can potentially lower than 6% rate by 25%.

Jeff and John are extremely reasonable and may give you a handful more great ideas based of what your end goal is.  

Based on how many people have moved here from other states (specifically California, Oregon, Washington, and then a few areas like NY/NJ) along with the amount of redevelopment projects and the chip factory that was put in - I think there will be further appreciation for the foreseeable future.Will Phoenix economy be depended on this chip factory?

Since I'm based in Tampa, I don't look outside and compare markets. 

I don't remember the exact cost when I did it but I remember thinking it was cheaper than expected.I didn't see a comment mentioning that you should just include utilities in the rent and increase it based off that so I'll be that guy.