I considering buying my first rental property there, and am an out of state investor.

I dont buy from home depot that often .

Most are selling hype to get you to buy their programs by deliberately make it sound easy.Your profile here on BP is blank, so guessing you are a "newbie"?

@Sean Dillon figure out how to buy a 2-4 unit with FHA loan.Then rent at least one of the units long-term for stable cashflow.Try STR in another unit as well as the other bedrooms in the unit you live in.You may even consider living in the basement, attic or worse unit in the building to rent everything else out and max cashflow. 

Our initial goal has been to buy a property every time the Army relocates me (roughly every two years) and rent it out afterward.

Do you ever see signage near the road that says "we buy houses" call that number and have a conversation!

Quote from @Andrew White: Investment Info:Single-family residence buy & hold investment in San Antonio.

I then did some wholesaling, land flipping, did some more buying and am now just doing lending to build up active income.

@Terrence StarkTypically the contract to buy the new house would specify that the builder/seller would deliver the type of plans you are referencing.

We buy by the case, pallet even on places like HotelSupply, HD Supply, etc.