If we each put up half of the cash, we would split the profit.

Keep in mind that almost half of the population in the US rents, so there are plenty of people to rent to.

However, construction and material rates are fairly close across the nation.The only half decent deals I've seen within this sector that make it financially feasible is to find an existing warehouse that could be converted to smaller spaces if possible, which helps cut down on time the property remains unleased.

The easiest and cheapest solution is probably to have a PO box there and us that address for the application and select that you'd like all correspondence to go through the property owner rather than the property manager.   

The result: 3 were completely broken, 1 shut off half way through and then broke, and 1 took my $4 and spit in my face.

I spend about half my time here in Reno so its not as painful.

Other options would be an LLC owns both homes and you each own half the LLC.

If you’re going too buy used they better be less than half of new as they will pry last 1/2 as long (so sub $250).

I will not try to exceed the expectation in every way, but I'll look for the easiest ways I can do it with a given property.

Otherwise it's going to be super overwhelming trying to understand a half dozen markets.Once you determine what city you'll be investing in you can start drilling down.