Lastly, don't be too hasty to move out-of-state until you have some experience. 

Please share your experience!

I do a meetup in Mesa on Saturday morning's which is a good place to come meet even more RE professionals and investors.You have the experience so now you just need the right strategy to grow the portfolio.

I do NOT have enough knowledge or experience in this arena to provide specific “how to” accomplish this, or even to provide specific”proof” of my position.  

Glad you have experience investing locally. 

My suggestion would be to buy a place to be a mid term rental and experiment with short term during the vacancy gaps. 

When problems with tenants come up, it is important to have professionals on your team that have experience navigating tenant problems such as evictions.

@Thomas Farrell if you have any experience managing property/construction projects, I would look in to flipping properties and keeping the once that you see an acceptable cashflow on when finished.

I would try to find an agent with investor experience and, ideally, a focus on investment properties. 

@Abrahm Dimmitt we found Deal Machine had a better user experience while driving.