An Army then Air Force JAG officer, Garrett invested in real estate with each duty assignment.

Or have other suggestions or tips for sorting property searches, managing goals, and renovation details.  

We are here to learn, guidance, tips, advice, etc.

An email marketing funnel for re-booking is nice, but it's barely keeping up with the year over year decline in rents due to saturation (quantity saturation AND quality saturation) and shifting travel trends.  20 years ago your hot tub made your listing an all-star. 

I could get an apartment but I think house hacking would be more worth while. any tips and insight as to get started quickly or should I rent an apartment for a year so I have more time to plan?

Unfortunately, there is a good number of illegitimate PMs and contractors in the Cleveland area, BUT quality property management does exist here.

So with mailers, you will ALWAYS target low-quality leads, because the high-quality leads, motivated sellers, do not wait for your mailer.Read my post here:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/93/topics/1215116-all-i...If you have more questions, ask away!

Any advice or tips really appreciated and again just starting to jump into a community of likeminded people.

The next time you're hiring an agent, you can always send me a message and I will give you some tips on what to look for when choosing one. 

One block can perform very well, and another block will destroy you.Before you invest, I recommend you locate a quality PM that can help you narrow down markets, determine which rentals perform best, cross-check sales prices and rent rates, and take over management right away.The biggest mistake you could make is to get talked into buying in the wrong neighborhood and then learning that the good managers won't touch it.