I hope to find additional contacts by asking. 4) Continuing to analyze deals and get a good feel for the numbers and best localities to start investing.A journey like this feels pretty scary for a newbie like myself, but I am hoping taking action based on my learnings and also the knowledge and experience of the BP community will help with my success.Any advice or constructive criticism you have to offer is very welcome. 

Don't forget that the critical thing is that your exchange be in place at the closing of the sale. 

The more I think about this the more critical the make up of the actual house is to the success of each of these.

Contingencies are really critical too.If you're not going to use a Realtor, at least use an attorney to draft and review your offers. 

My constructive criticism is that your customers are not investors who likely invest in start-ups.

It’s critical that this document has clear timelines that mesh with the purchase and sale agreement.

A book that offers great insight into these first few critical steps is Millionaire Real Estate Investor.

Both are critical to the decision making process.On the surface Scenario A far outweighs B based on ROI alone. $1300 rent on 40K investment is a no brainer compared to $2200 on 200K investment.

It's critical as an out of state investor to build a team that you trust to advise you

You need to decide what criteria works for you and your situation- in my mind, that is the most critical factor for success.