I currently live in San Diego, Ca. but have been looking in the midwest, mainly Iowa, Indiana and Ohio, for properties. 

I shopped across 15 different institutions for my personal HELOC and they seemed to have the best terms out there.

you will hear different opinions.

Learn about the Net Operating Income (NOI) and Capitalization Rate (Cap Rate)—these are essential to analyzing the potential profitability of a property.Return on Investment (ROI): There are different ways to calculate ROI in real estate, such as looking at your total return after a sale or assessing your rental income versus initial investment.

Good stuff, it is a much different market today.

Their different backgrounds will lead to 80-90% of the same stuf being pointed out, but the 10-20% differences can be eye-opening and lead to more accurate bids.Suggest you visit a Home Depot on a Saturday, between 6-8am.

I own mid term rentals in two different states/markets.

Brandon Turner does a great job going over different strategies in his book "Invest in Real Estate with No (or little) Money Down".

You should have two main lessons learned from all this.First: Tenant screening.

Understand the fees involved and calculate the total cost for an entire year of management so you can compare the different managers.