@Craig Bowman Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

When I have these questions, I try to think about what I would expect from my landlord as a tenant.

To manage this relationship, landlords should establish clear boundaries, respect space, use a third-party property manager, and set expectations for tenant responsibilities.

Meaning, if you spend money on ads you are expecting an ROI correct?

When people buy too many properties too quickly, they end up with underperforming assets and more cap ex than they expected.

Do you expect it to turn around, and/or is there anything you can do to help increase revenue? 

You can do a comparison of Price sold to rent per sqft and get a great idea of how the market is changing or what to expect from rentals there!

We normally make them sign a lease, so everyone knows what is expected and covers both parties for liabilities.

Your limiting factors are the width of your expectations and reality, but that doesn't mean you cannot start somewhere.

When it comes to W2 employees, it involves HR, expectations, paying them whether they have enough leads or projects to fill their day or not, managing higher expectations (W2 employees seem to be much more "picky"), and overall they are just more expensive.