Never buy without personally inspecting and approving the property and INDEPENDENTLY, INDEPENDENTLY, INDEPENDENTLY, verifying everything from values to market rates, to approving tenant selection procedures and standards, to repairmen on standby, to everything else in Christendom that you can thing of.I am not a fan of out-of-state investing, especially for those with less than 50 years of experience, and for them, they’re probably too old for the hassle. 

Rents and property values rise pretty steadily in our market at a rate about 2-3X the national average.

We've run about a 20% vacancy rate. 2 of our MTRs have been great, the third we sold after it wasn't generating enough inquiries over two years of effort.

The first question is, can I use a second home mortgage (10% down and lower interest rate) for this. 

Currently looking to buy more but these rates don't make it easier!

A quick check of new listings results in many listing that seem well below market rates.   

You'll either have a higher rate for no prepay, or it will cost you points at closing.

Keeping a 2.99% rate sounds great, but it may be costing you thousands of dollars if you are in the double digits with your other outstanding debts.

Many of these were lost in tax sales, and the ones that they got re-performing underwrote loan mods at low single digit interest rates during ZIRP and could not resell them at a profit once interest rates were hiked.

This has definitely paid dividends for us when it comes to mortgage rates and lending options.