Make sure you know what it's like to be an Agent before you spend thousands of dollars on MLS fees etc.. 

Quote from @Corinne Snyder:Hi Michael, my CPA will not allow me to claim myself as a real estate professional with my one rental single-family home rental property because I do not spend enough hours per year running it, therefore he won't allow any overhead expenses to be claimed; only expenses related to the property directly.  

You may need to spend every cent they offer on moving things out and back in, but that a small price to pay if after this is done you have your property back in the condition it was when you started.

I can also tag it by property to easily pull P&L for each property.I am super happy with Baselane and excited to not have to spend so much time on bookkeeping and prepping things manually for my accountant. 

They're spending tax-payer money, so they'll cut a check without batting an eye.Document condition before and after with photos, inspect regularly, and you should be fine.

I will spend around $5000 - $7000 a year for tax planning and filing.

If I had ten thousand liquid cash to spend, I'd probably do a house hack two-family and obtain an FHA loan with only 3.5% down. 

It makes budgeting so much easier. 

you are competing against other investors spending thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on marketing every month. 

Recognize that going out of state will come with a lot of learning and education; there's a cost for that of your time and if its better served educating out of state or spending it on the property.