That was just one of my properties and I now have multiple in different vacation locations.  

My piece of advice would be to make sure you have a great agent in your corner to help you assess the market, make informed decisions, etc. having a good agent can be day & nights difference when it comes to your experience.

So, when investing in areas they don’t really know, investors should research the different property Class submarkets.

Obviously it's good from a nature preservation point of view but it's a very different from an investment point of view. 

I do this as there is so many different ways persons choose to do such, so many different fee structures, so I keep it off and I tell clients UP FRONT to keep that in mind and add what is specific to there situation.   

How long it takes to be financially ready is different for everyone.

Also what does the city say is the assessed value of the property on your taxes (it will be different than the appraised value, but should give you an idea).

The line "not your buyer" is quite a bit different than "not a buyer."

Some "captive" agents like Farmers, Nationwide, maybe others also have some market access other than their namesake, but unless things are different there State Farm has State Farm only so when they're done, they're done. 

It looks like a great idea on the surface but the numbers don't stack up from a risk/return point of view as far as I'm concerned (it could be different for you depending on your return expectations).