Remember; pigs get fat and hog's get slaughtered. 

Laying the groundwork, and learning as much as can in order to make the best strategic decision, buying profitable properties and taking full advantage of any tax strategies.The problem: The location I am considering for our first rental is about 5 hours from our primary residence (and out of state if that matters), making it all but impossible to meet the Material Participation requirements (we would have to hire a property manager).

Their entire business model is to charge premiums and play hard to ever pay out on the fat tails.

Don't hire contractors, who show up in a pressed shirt, can speak both Spanish and English and do zero work but pocket a fat margin.  

Buy as many as you can in close proximity.

DSCR loans are asset based, not personal DTI, and can in ideal conditions allow you to pull all of your money back out of the deal and then some, or a lot more.

I'm not expecting to.....If you wanna buy a house send a fat offer to the house you want. 

Yes, it won't be efficient, but you'll have to ask whether efficiency is worth a fat purchase price, unreliability and short life-span.2. if you have a modern furnace, mid-efficiency and high-efficiency are two of the main types.

It's pretty hard to tell if it's really safe or not but you can in some cases have a master electrician certify that it is safe and sometimes insurance will accept this.

you can in South Florida