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!

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

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

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. 

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

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.

@Brice Alef-Torrisi putting each property in its own LLC is usually overkill.Getting a bank account for each LLC is typically something you need to do to avoid "piercing of the LLC corporate veil" (actually depends on tax selection you made for LLC), but is also overkill.You haven't indicated how you are holding the deed for the latest property.If in your name or same LLC, you don't need a separate bank account.If in separate LLC, you can create a Master LLC, have each property LLC hire the Master LLC to manage their affairs, and just get a bank account for Master LLC.This is an opinion, not advice, so lookup CPA Frank Alcini in Troy for expert advice.

A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant who specializes in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.You may want to consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for a accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.