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!

They remit the taxes.

You are looking at the rent of $2,000 and mortgage (Loan, Insurance, and Taxes) of $18000 and thinking you have $200 cash-flow.

Assuming property taxes + insurance added don't go above $1,100 total, you could maybe make this work. 

Technically it would be best to get a C Corporate or S Corp. to flip properties and since you are considered a dealer if you do several properties a year and this could have negative tax consequences in an LLC.

For several reasons (property taxes, politics), I would prefer to begin real estate investing somewhere other than locally. 

Is your DSCR ratio greater than 1-meaning are you cash flowing (according to the lender's criteria of mortgage, property taxes and insurance (and HOA) if applicable).

Almost every REMIC is in violation of it's tax status.

Dig deep into tax strategy, tax efficiency, etc  Learn about estate planning. 

A mortgage lender can help determine if refinancing or tapping into equity might allow you to acquire additional properties.Consider a 1031 Exchange: If you're open to selling a current property, a 1031 exchange can defer capital gains taxes while enabling you to upgrade to a larger or more profitable asset.