Hello,My name is Luis and I am a land lord in Houston Texas.

Thanks for the advice but I have always wanted to get into land lording and I already have experience in this area and enjoy it.

Brad Chandler Criteria was absentee owner with more than 6 or so years on title. 3+ bedrooms. 2+ baths.

Or does anyone have advice on a different way to do long distance land lording without making it more than a 15 hour a week job?

If you want to be a slum lord that only fixes things with duct tape and bailing wire....well, that's a different ball game entirely.

Renting presents its own long list of issues that one gets to learn and relearn during the course of their land lording life.

@Jeffrey Lester Im not sure where your spiritual beliefs stand, but my feeling is that whatever you need to accomplish the plans the Lord has for you, he will give you.

(Great way to starting building a realtor-investor relationship)The bank makes the final decision regarding price after they order either a BPO or Appraisal or both depends on the lender.The short sale process takes usually takes 90-120 or longer days depending on the sellers cooperation and how fast the agent works with the bank submitting paperwork received from the seller but ive seen them go 6-12 months :(One warning really try and screen your seller to make sure there not using you the agent to just buy ore time in the property you must take there word on this but hopefully they have good intentions.The uglier the property for me personally I only love properties that look like the guy from lord of the rings (The Precious)Sorry for the lengthy reply just wanted to be thorough.Good luck!

In the meantime, I am learning everything I can about buy and hold investing, land lording, self-managing properties, screening tenants, and so on.  

If you are happy with minimal cash flow and amoritization in exchange for some land lording and property management experience then renting your current home makes sense.