Sees a lot of off market stuff because he is a property manager as well.The toughest part about investing outside of your locality is finding boots on the ground that you can trust.

Local property managers or agents can often provide trusted referrals, and real estate meetups are also great for connections.Wishing you the best!

Daniel,If its something you really like from all accounts, get with an inspector and property manager to give their thoughts on the area, condition of the property etc...

I've managed up to 400 rentals and never offered a concession.

This is how I see it:Single-Family Homes:Pros:Larger pool of potential tenants (families).Simpler management (one tenant, one lease).Often easier to finance.May appreciate faster in some markets.Cons:Only one income stream.Vacancy hits harder financially.Duplexes:Pros:Two potential income streams.Live in one unit and rent the other (house hacking!)

But, if a cost-seg study is done on the old property, you can manage Sec. 1245 recapture tax by doing a study on the new property to confirm it has as much or more Sec. 1245 property.You cannot swap a fully depreciated gas station for a raw piece of land and avoid recapture - you must replace all the 1245 and 1250 property.3) OZ - Sure you can defer your capital gains for a few years into an OZ fund, but the magic of OZ investments is the ability to achieve tax-exempt growth after a 10-year holding period.

, 2) it manages the properties directly so there are many hands in the cookie jar, and 3) how/when/impact if "they" decide to liquidate properties and what would be the exact impact to me? 

Ease of management?

I have several really good lawyers we use, you can PM me if you want info on them ... and if you'd like to talk property management reach out.

My goal would be to start within 1-2 years and get some more experience with the construction process, project management, financing/budgeting, etc.