Good points I try to target a price range basically a starter  home  that is affordable in  A,B area . 

If you stay in Northern Minnesota you could look to locate closer to Duluth which has a large supply of duplexes at prices much below $500K.

Will you potentially be more at peace if you sell and buy an investment property that you have never lived in personally?

Hard money lenders focus more on the property’s value rather than your personal debt to income ratio (which traditional banks use) allowing for quicker approval and funding.

Personally, if the property is in a bad area, this will give you headaches no matter what.

So now I have both my personal residence and a leased property as STRs.Even though I live 3 hours away from my leased STR property, I've built a team that assists with managing it, so I don't have to be there all the time.Here are some key things I've learned:Regulations: Research the specific STR regulations in the state and city where you're looking to buy.

Base the payment amount so you're in that range.

In my opinion, an in person meetup > an online connection.You may want to consider making a connection here and meeting up for coffee or attending a real estate networking event.Best of luck!

Personally I would just get the proper licensing and insurance if I wanted to manage properties for others. 

FL and TX have been very popular and have large markets we try to help revitalize as well!