Open to out of state investing - consider buying near some of the larger military bases and take advantage of military personnel utilizing their housing allotment to pay rent. 

Have you considered the potential of utilizing the "asset island" method for primary ownership of properties, and than via NNN master lease to individual operating LLC's for business monetization use? 

It is very common for one employee to not know what the other is doing;2) Fees:- Instead of requiring tenants to pay in one lump sum, they let them pay in chunks (which is very annoying as they will charge you $10 for each chunk payment your tenant make; that means you'll be charged $30-40 more per unit/month if they let them pay in 3-4 chunks);- Every bill they pay for you will cost you $10 (+$20-40 more per unit/month).

We started with $1MM of our own capital, and have since grown to about $25MM through raising private money and utilizing bank lines of credit.

Oh well, second guessing the law is common enough.

The key here is that both involuntary conversion provisions and partial dispositions can be utilized, though the approach may depend on your overall tax strategy.

There could be major variation - for example, once you move out, do you still pay utilities?  

We also send an automated message to them around noon time the day after check-in just to see if they have any questions or need anything, most guests really appreciate us checking in with them, this also avoids the common scenario of guests that have an issue at the property but just choose not to tell you about it, then leave a bad review without giving you a chance to make things right.

As for researching the competition, all I have done so far is check common websites that market properties like Zillow, Realtor.com, Apartments.com etc.

(And this ignores seller credits, which are commonly offered to homebuyers during negotiations.)Affording the down payment is an issue for prospective homebuyers, but not the main one.