Hi Mary, I'm a local investor. 

@Cynthia Lee it depends on your state and local laws.Here in Michigan, we can accept partial rent payments up to the Writ status and have it not affect the eviction process.

I often times bounce questions like this off my local RE attorney first and then move forward quickly.  

To start I made sure that I found a majority of my furniture from locally sourced companies such as thrift stores, Facebook marketplace, mom-and-pop shops, and so on because I felt if I'm going to do this right I want to support the local community I am investing into. 

If you end up having a vacancy with no cash flow, it hurts much more than when you are able to offset with cashflow from your other properties.I would recommend seeing if you are able to diversify a bit with some local or out of state properties that do cashflow some, even after Property Management, that way you could start to support these homes.

Saying everyone hates their landlord is as stupid as saying customer service is not needed since everyone hates the retailer.

Hey John, welcome to Sac BP -- I'm a local broker and property manager, we manage 100+ Airbnb listings and generally recommend investing in Multifamily as opposed to Single-Family.

I'm local to DFW working in the commercial space!

Current ownership was not local, and didn't have a presence anymore.

Networking with other local investors or joining a real estate meetup can also help you find great lenders, property managers, and contractors.