Based on the financial piece, and I am not a lender, but getting rid of your Credit Card debt would be my first goal if I was in your position.

The best agents are worth their weight in gold, especially to those of us who have struggled for years trying to make all of the pieces fit.

Hey Sharma, if you know all the risks associated with buying RE and doing section 8 there, then by all means go for it.Lots of people are telling others to "go there" because the inventory is high and people need to get rid of it.As someone else mentioned, before you make any investments, go drive around and make a decision for yourself if you want to invest there.One last piece of advice: Don't just look at the numbers.

You'll want to make sure you understand the K1/tax filing implications because if you own very small piece of let's say 10 properties in 10 different states you would potentially receive 10 K1s (one for each deal) and 'may' have tax filing requirements in 10 states. 

If land is zoned for residential, can you build more than one “home” on that piece of land? 

You can act as boots on the ground or take an active role in running things for someone for a small piece of the pie.

You'll never have every piece of data and every question answered to make a perfect decision.

I would prefer to self manage to avoid the high poperty management fees (I think its around 10% + 1 month leasing fee, etc.) and I also worry that the property manager will likely not be as dilligent in finding high quality affordable vendors, etc.I see 4 major pieces of work1) Tenant finding: I feel comfortable doing this remotely.

Pieces of the roof are already loose and blowing in the wind again :/ 

Best piece of advice that I could give you is just do it.