Honestly, IMO your best bet is house hacking.

Your best bet is to either add another layer of subfloor (the thicker you can go the better but obviously this can cause problems for transition areas that you may not be adding subfloor to), or use either floor leveler or floor mud to help even out the floor.

Also, the builder is going to need periodic payment draws as the project progresses.

I really see Columbus Ohio as an extremely safe bet for the next 10-20 years.

Some did wrap arounds or have them in progress, which are going to end up a mess.The VA, Congress and Senate got a hundred thousand complaints from veterans. 

The Shaw flooring representative came over and said that their vinyl strips would be the best bet. 

Your best bet may be to purchase with a hard money loan (Stabilized bridge or maybe a rehab loan) and get the rents up to market / renovate.

Your best bet is to go work for a wholesaler, learn while you earn, and then go off on your own when you're ready. 

The team continues to handle our yearly taxes which we appreciate and they are always available to chat about things we are unclear about so we can keep learning year after year how to continue our progress and to learn from our mistakes. 

Now with that said though I bet there have been some people who started out doing OOS investing and it worked out well for them.