Prepare for additional costs: If you’re adding units, you’ll likely need to address the water meter situation and possibly upgrade utilities.

But if you’re just getting started and haven’t done any investing yet, those costs might not count as business deductions.Hope this clears things up!

A low maintenance condo rentable to good tenants sounds like a good starting point to me.I’m 56 and reasonably setup for retirement, so real estate is a stabilizing diversifier for me.

BiggerPockets is full of resources designed to help you along your journey, whether you are just getting started or a seasoned investor.

Mississippi is pretty small not a lot but start with DR Horton, Lennar, etc. most companies are after large growth cities though. not sure about Jackson 

STR management is 20-25% (I would recommend self managing or getting a VA), since income is higher you could probably get away with 5% for maintenance / cap ex but remember you need to cover utilities and cleaning for these units which drives up costs.

And have you thought about building back utilities?

There is a lot of training involved, it takes months (up to 2 years), and they usually like to start them off as puppies.

Get them out and start with leases and only rent to people that you have screened. 

Starting is the scariest part.