You're definitely getting started in the right place, just remember to take breaks for eating and sleeping, this place can be a serious rabbit hole ;)Not sure what types of investing you're looking at, but I'd encourage you to do some research on turnkey.

So I guess I will eat my words and say it's possible in Knoxville.1. 

The $200 breaker flips could eat your lunch, too!

I'm wondering how risky that is and if it will eat too much into my returns.

If the mortgage payment is $500 a month thats $6k a year that eats into your cashflow.

I did find that electricity jumped for a couple weeks especially as I had crews in the place all day, and an agent advised me of the FHA rule after I was into the project by 21 days.Essentially it was the little stuff I hadn't planned on - this was a condo and a "resale certificate" is necessary... another few hundred unplanned, mandatory "dryer vent cleaning" (albeit I cannot fine this anywhere in the rules/regs of the association, its just cheaper to do it rather than fight it), cabinet pulls (after replacing counter tops, faucets and fixtures)... all in I came up with another $1400 of unplanned expense, eating up roughly 50% of my contingency budget!

I don't read the news much, but I can't think of one time either of those two places made the headlines unless there was a tornado or something...And just to handle a potential objection that always pops up when people decide to invest 1,000+ miles away from where they live:Objection: Properties are more affordable there than where we currently live.Objection Handler: You can get a "more affordable" meal off the dollar menu at McDonald's, but I bet you don't go out to eat there on a Friday night. 

Appreciation is having cake and eating it too.  

Cash flow is important, but it appears on BP it's the only goal (might be because everyone is broke today and needs to eat LOL).Is the property at its highest and best use?

I could go on for hours about that one topic and I don't fish or eat fish.