You are off to a good start being on Bigger Pockets.

Just google the following: - special assessment - zombie condos - Florida condos (look for recent news)Since you are not living near the properties anyways, why not look in a landlord friendly state where the purchase prices are lower?

I would like to start close to home as I plan to self manage the rental side of it.

The Heloc can also pose as a debt obstacle since its an open end mortgage a.k.a credit card.a mortgage is also set up over 30 years so it offers a lower rate and payment. 

Contrary to most business lending, the REI industry has a lot of "non-bank" lenders that provide attractive loans that can lower your cost of capital and improve your profit/cash flow. 

They lowered the “taxable value” by 40-50% and then raised the tax rate about 35-45% lowering everyone’s taxes that year.

At least starting out.

There are some zip codes where you can indeed get above market rent with S8 (even after deducting utility allowance), but some where they are lower.

Most users of VRBO have one single 5-star review, thus our threshold is lower. 

By investing in metropolitan areas your yield would be lower (6% to 7%) but you would have a lower vacancy rate.