@Lillian Pintaro,Birmingham’s a lucrative market—it’s been my stomping ground for nearly 20 years, and you can find some excellent deals if you know what you’re after and dive deep by zip code, neighborhood, and city block.For what it’s worth, we manage 2,000+ units (many for out-of-state investors) mostly in the north and west part of town—so think suburbs outside the city limits like Graysville (35073), Adamsville (35005), Mount Olive (35117), Center Point (35215), and the like.Since you’re also open to the surrounding areas, places like Odenville (to the east) and Tuscaloosa (to the southwest) could be worth checking out.

Can some of your concerns be mitigated (locally) through things like strong tenant vetting and property class selection?

The BiggerPockets community has excellent book recommendations, such as The Book on Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner.

Evictions are an excellent way to take a decent investment and make it a nightmare. 

It appears they quickly know how to adjust and select the right property.

In our experience, the #1 mistake landlords make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.

If you pursue a degree, select one that provides the skills that allow you to earn a revenue stream once you leave your W2. 

Still, we appreciate you and the entire REI team for your support and excellent service.  

We have no control of the condition of your property, if the value will appraise at where you feel it will appraise at, selecting specific appraisers, making sure the title to your property is free of any liens/judgements, what the title company will charge you, how much the AMC will charge you for an appraisal, what your property taxes will be, how much your insurance will cost you, and the list goes on.. 

An out of state turnkey option would be easy to do in parallel with this since a true turnkey option should not take much, if any effort other than selecting the right team in a market that can help you reach your goals.