As you already know, the quality of the investor agent will speed up your learning curve, and save you money, time, and headaches. 

the good news is that you're in the middle of a "masters" level education at this point.

While having high standards is important, it's worth considering that many Section 8 tenants might not meet requirements like a 640 credit score or $90,000 in household income.

Good luck to you.

Or a good ole revolver in .38 will always work... 

"Equity shrinks pretty quickly when you sell".Thirdly, anybody tooting their own horn wants something from you . . . your money.Now, since I have 10,000,000 houses and $100,000,000,000 in equity, I can verify this is true.Seriously folks, question everything in life and you'll love me for learning that principal.You may ask, is the person answering my post an expert and is their opinion good?

It'll take some time but I see Anthem and all around the plant growing significantly over the coming years, small multifam and sfh's may be a good buy up around there.

also what part of columbus ohio is considered good, low on crime, fast developing yet still affordable to buy a house? 

One is a 4-plex for $165K with good cashflow (CoC ~16%).

A good baseline is to calculate material costs (e.g., $300 for paint and supplies) and add a fair hourly rate for labor.