Home prices are one, cost of living and relatively disaster-free weather keeps insurance costs down.You can look up the median home price for every city or metro area.

Do they have insurance and property tax reduction reports in their study?

That is just the loan payment and doesn't include your insurance and taxes like a typical mortgage payment does. 

I forgot to add that the insurance and tax is included in my mortgage of $2,005.

It's a balance of cashflow and wealth accumulation.One of the goals is to have tenants pay as much of your cost-of-ownership as possible (loans, taxes, insurance, etc.)In high-cost areas, any Class A or B property you buy will usually negative cashflow for the first 3-5 years, until rents rise enough to cover the negative cashflow + rising taxes & insurance.Investing OOS increases your risks because you may not know the market and you can't check on everything/everyone all the time.If you move forward with your buddies, HIGHLY recommend creating a solid Partnership Agreement!

Failures: Had a house that burned down this month that wasn’t insured as high as I should have.

Marketing, screening, collecting rent, unpaid rent, maintenance, capex, insurance, lawn care, vacancies, turnover costs, inspections, and so much more. 

For liability protection, consider umbrella insurance, and ensure your accountant understands rental properties qualify for deductions without LLC ownership.

So most agents are only putting about half of that $12k in their pocket, and out of that $6k they have to cover all of their operating expenses: licensing fees, MLS/ Realtor Association fees, continuing education classes to stay compliant with licensing requirements, monthly "desk" fees/ technology fees to their brokerage, health insurance for themselves and their family, errors and omissions insurance (required), marketing, car, car insurance, gas, clothes, computer/ software, cell phone, closing gifts, signs, photography, staging if they offer that, etc.

They are investors as well and have good contacts in most markets they sell properties in, insurance, property management, etc.