Within the IRS technical audit guide they specifically highlight being several hundred miles away from the property as a potential red flag. 

If you hit rock trying to put in a septic system it could jump your septic from $15k to $25k.

And I think this is where the Midwest starts to stand out from red-haired step child of past decades to looking pretty good now.

This property is ugly as-is, and some people truly get upset by an ugly house when they're renting it shorter term, as though it's some reflection on them personally.Good news is that you can paint those ugly rocks and brick the same color, and make it look WAY better. 

Are there any red flags I should be aware of, such as the vacancy expense or NNN costs?

We just went through it with a property that had multiple large red stains.

They had completely covered the outside wall with red brick and added a garage.

Basically if someone is offering to pay 12 months in advance there are a lot of red flags that go up. 

Other things that are red flags for me: Their bios don't even mention how long they've been managing other people's money. 

I recently had a conversation with my lender and mentioned I would be purchasing a property as my primary residence.  I would live there while fixing it up then renting it out in a year.  She cautioned I need to be ca...