Hi @Hoseah Njuguna, the experience with PenFed was very smooth.

When an employer transferred me to a different facility 30 miles away once, I was able to transfer to another apartment with the same landlord to be closer to my new job (the cleaning deposit transferred smoothly and the 30-day notice to vacate was waived).

Word gets around what lenders make deals smooth and which turn it into a nightmare so the listing agent may be telling their sellers this. 

This could potentially be my first deal if I want it to be and I’d like for it to go smoothly.

I'm wondering about a few things:- Should I buy out of state, so the markets and location and landlord laws are better,   or near where we live, to simplify the process so our first time goes more smoothly?

One lesson learned was that with a floor like that, even after trying to even it all out, it wasn't perfectly smooth and level, so the decision to use soft and floppy vinyl planking was a mistake.

I want nothing more than for this first rental investment purchase to go smoothly and my tenants to be happy in their neighborhood.

Pretty smooth way to use OPM with no interest to get a deal done. 

All though they make their money monthly on rent collection and management in my eyes they are also own the tenants and the problems or smoothness when they find good tenants.This being said, Let them rent the units and use your time to find the next opportunity

Plenty of transactions go smoothly though and re-fi in a couple years.