Good location next to a large city park and public transportation (train), with street to street lot.Zoning: Currently zoned and used as 5 units.The Units: 1st floor front studio; 1st floor rear studio; 2nd floor 1-bed; 2nd floor efficiency; 3rd floor 1-bed.

The two main expenses of the average American household are housing and transportation, and these typically take up half the household budget.

Look for local news and announcements of large developments, industries moving, new transportation lines, hospital expansions, military base expansions, population growth reports, etc.Some examples:Belleville (my area): huge new commercial development with Costco as anchor store, over 800 new full-time jobs, costco to be done by summer 2020 with the rest following in the next few years.

Below is a list of target property criteria (broad for now, but I'll dial this in) as well as a list of open questions that I'd love your feedback on.Target Properties: -$1-4M purchase price-6+ unit multifamily apartments in GA and surrounding states-Value add opportunity through capital improvements, increasing occupancy, and/or raising rents-Property class B or C, no war-zone areas-Near stable employment, education, transportation, entertainment/amenities, and future developmentOpen Questions:1.Is it realistic for me to be able to set up and operate this type of fund part time?

You want to stay close to transportation and even on a house hack, you want to find a value add which means for a first-time investor not a ton of work, but enough to bring something up in the units to get to a better rent level in the other units.

I also noticed these homes are located in areas without reliable public transportation, grocery stores, and bad areas where there aren't any current section 8 attendees.

Housing, transportation, and healthcare are all cheaper in Fayetteville than in many other parts of the country. 

If you take two individual properties with similar dynamics such as cost, condition and rental potential, you can see very different results based on things like taxes and whether landlord/tenancy laws are more or less favorable.It really pays to understand the following factors:Property tax ratesProperty insurance ratesMunicipal landlord taxes (an IRA or 401k may not be exempt from certain local taxes)Local landlord/tenant laws – how easy is it to evict a tenant, for example.Local Market FactorsIn addition, you will want to look at things like neighborhood safety, quality of schools, access to transportation, proximity to shopping and recreation, and other factors that drive desirability.Investing in real estate is not really that different than any other type of investment.

If so, then yes, it would be wise to go spend a good amount of time checking out the different neighborhoods.Good areas tend to be close to good transportation and amenities.The rental market is strong there.

I personally don't take the time to itemize each buying expense, but it generally amounts to a few thousand dollars:Typical Buying Costs Inspection costs ($350 - $500) - If you are just getting started, it's probably a good idea to pay for a professional inspector to perform a full property inspection to find any major issues or concerns.Closing Costs (Generally amount to $1k to 2k) Title Search & Insurance ($500) - A Title Search is performed by a Title Company to research the property records to ensure there is clean title, and no claims or liens on the property.Courier Fees ($50-$100) - Courier fees are fees to transport the closing documents .County recording fees ($50 - $100) - Recording fees are charged by the local county recording office to record the property documents in the public records.Miscellaneous Fees ($250 to $500) - There will also likely be miscellaneous processing fee/document preparation fees.Lender Points - If you're using outside funding, your lender will likely charge 2 to 3% of the Loan Value to originate the loan.