Sad country we live in at times. 

I live in California.I also wanted to know if there was anything you wish you had known before setting up an LLC/IRA and why you chose to set one up and has having one met your expectations?

I also live in NY and have invested long distance without scouting the area. 

Hopefully, not an expensive tenant or Fair Housing lawsuit.100% of what @Travis Biziorek states is true, but he left out a key fact - he lived in the Detroit area when he started investing here, so was able to self-manage and meet everyone he had to hire face-to-face.

We live in a litigious society and people are sadly looking for ways to either get something for free or more. 

I am interested in buying a long-term turnkey property in a nice area (I live in San Diego so this property would have to be out of state).

Even if the rental has a decent cash flow with additional flood insurance, we're still not sure we want to take on that risk as we are out-of-state investors (planning to move back to KY in the future, but not now) and we don't like that it will potentially bring down the perceived value when we try to sell it in the future.The seller has never lived there and has not provided any information on if it has flooded before or not. 

(For context, it's a 2700 sf 4 bd 3 bath house in an upscale Northern California suburb.)Kitchen A: Traditional, features a 48 in fridge, 36 in cooktop, window sink (no view), pantry.Kitchen B: Designer, features a 60 in fridge, 48 in range, large kitchen window (no view), sink facing living/dining room; unfortunately no pantryKitchen C: A Little Bit of Both, features a 48 in fridge, 48 in range, sink facing living/dining room, pantry, unfortunately there's no window.Total countertop space is roughly the same (22 ft)  in all three layouts.

I live in the greater Maryland  area.

I live in SoCal so if I wanted strong cash flow I would likely have to look out of state.