I am not super familiar with your market (although I'm sure it's similar), we have a ton of local Chicago real estate investor meetups.Getting to those things in person changed my life, and I was able to connect with mentors, experienced investors, and a lot of good people.

Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

Few tips I have been funding and buying out of state ( west coast) rentals since 2002.1. do not start with C and D class or let providers tell you they are C or agents its just human nature to puff this a little. 2.

Not 30 days later or 60 days later when you go find the money or borrow it.Every jurisdiction is a little different as to how things work, but typically you won't be able to borrow your way into tax lien/deed investing unless you are borrowing against other assets you have like life insurance, home equity, 401k, stock margins, or some other hard asset.   

I do know that very few municipalities won't require egress and life safety considerations.

The magic in real estate takes time, BP calculator will tell you..After investing for 15 years in Milwaukee (usually regarded a cash flow market) I can pretty much much sum up my philospohy in a couple sentences: acquite as much real estate as quickly as possible, as early as possible in your life.

Would you really want a tenant leaving human waste in the apartment?

You want to be as long term focused as possible while maintaining a stable source of cash to burn every month for life expenses 

Because as a business, you want to milk capital items for as much life as you can ring out of them!

A lot of this is based on human nature.