I'm exited to learn everything I can from other's experience and trials in the RE game.

@Jay Hinrichs  - You saw where I was going with my question :)  We have two rental properties in TN that are variations of the 2% rule but I'm always interested to hear about appreciation plays and how people find/decide.I haven't looked much in PDX - only because I've been focused on TN acquisitions, but deals in that market aren't nearly as great as it was in 2011 when we first bought there.  

Would some variation of Karpinski's "How to rent vacation properties by owner" work for a normal long term rental property?

I am leaning toward finding a low-price (but decent) local property in an acceptable neighborhood and getting some learning done without a huge financial commitment, and as a trial balloon to see if I am going to be any good at real estate / land lording and if it suits me.

Hi @Melissa Charles ,I did the 30 day trial and found FreedomSoft to be a good CRM and pretty easy to use.  

I am sure there is some variation to the requirements in Arizona.

@Mark Creason  I think I would like the variation in the granite also.

They are both knowledgeable in real estate law and LLC formations.I would think that it would be best to hold the real estate investments in a separate LLC (you can always chose a variation of your current LLC name).

I have done a trial membership on property radar and found it to be helpful, but I was wondering how reliable people think their title and lien info is.  

I tried without success to get a free trial account to see if it will work in my area.