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!

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.

I let both of those properties just go for tax's I tired of the BS..

Keep in mind taxes go up as do rents.

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

Almost every REMIC is in violation of it's tax status.

.🔹 Property Tax Relief – If your property is severely damaged, you may qualify for reassessment and potential tax refunds.

I recommend that you look at Notice of Defaults, Vacants, Tax Liens or Probate. 

It's going to offer Strong economic growth, Appreciation (especially in DFW), Tax advantages (no state income tax), and a Growing population, including infrastructure and amenities. 

For several reasons (property taxes, politics), I would prefer to begin real estate investing somewhere other than locally.