I thought this was a joke at first but am told they require some form to be signed attesting to the owner/landlord living within 15 minutes driving distance of the property in order to rent it out. 

I'm also a newbie and when it happened to me I was very stressed and the silence on their end was driving me crazy!

I've heard Simply Safe advertise a lot on BP.  

At the end of the day you want to make it pleasant and safe. 

You can probably get in two at a time and still have a safe amount of capital at 500k.But if you're saying that use cash and sink every last dollar you have into a single project, I'd say no, do not do that. 

I'm working on getting my first piece of property and am now looking in Buffalo, NY which is ~6 hour drive from where I live.

For a residential (1-4 unit) deal, a "buy and hold" duplex for me (without driving value via renovations/BRRRR'ing) would be CoC between 8-12% and/or about $250 per door.

Pete in an older/rougher neighborhood, but very close to downtown(less than 5min drive) or a little bit nicer of a neighborhood, but further away(15-20min drive)?

Is the war zone creeping towards the property or are the good guys driving it back and the area is gradually getting safer?

I learned mine by driving around, looking up a bunch of properties online and looking at a bunch in person, listening to everything people said at the meetups and asking a ton of questions to local investors.If you have the money, her course is a bit of a shortcut to learn what you need to know, but it by no means is everything you need to flip in a local market.