It’s their full time livelihood to make transactions happen.  

There is a BP book by Heather Blankenship that would be a good place to start - Real Estate Campgrounds.

I've been re-reading the BiggerPockets book The House Hacking Strategy by Craig Curelop, and the numbers are eye-opening.🔥 Why Co-Living & House Hacking Work So Well Together✅ Higher Rental Income Per Unit – Renting by the room typically beats traditional rental rates.✅ Lower Vacancy Risk – Losing one tenant doesn’t mean losing all your cash flow.✅ More Affordable for Renters – Competitive pricing attracts a steady stream of demand.✅ Built-In Community = Lower Turnover – Tenants stay longer when they feel connected.✅ Allows You to House Hack a Single-Family Home – No need to compete for pricey duplexes and triplexes!

To set the stage, I'm owner of a short-term rental property in the Poconos in PA and we use a property management company for bookings, maintenance/cleaning, guest management, etc.This past weekend we had a guest booking but when the guests arrived Friday evening the house had no running water, though it had been running fine earlier in the day when the Property manager (PM) was at the house to give a final check and leave the welcome packet.

I have read the book on long distance investing and still am not too confident to get started.

Be mindful of a gift tax implications if you sell a house for less than FMV.Also be mindful of transactions between related parties when selling at a loss.

Hunt down a book - "Investing in Real Estate with Lease Options and Subject To Deals" by Wendy Patton.

If you haven't already, read "The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs" by J.

There are towns that are not too far where there could be some options for you, but I would start going to real estate investor meetups and pair that with books and podcasts.

The property ended up being his book keeper's home that she had rented out and was needing to sell.