Also note manpower is a issue here driving up costs of repairs (not as much in Lakeland as Tampa - but still an issue)Congrats on taking the plunge!

If it was easy everyone would do it, and to be honest none of it was all that hard just took time to sit back look at the big picture, determine options, and execute.Good luck to you all out there looking to take the plunge, sometimes you just have to jump in and figure it out.

Congrats on taking the plunge into real estate investing.

Would love to network with some other NY/NJ area investors who've taken the plunge into long distance rentals/ potentially set up some meetups in our neck of the woods.

Here goes...At the end of 2013, after 2 years of reading everything I could get my hands on and spending lots of time studying the methods of successful investors, I finally felt I was ready to take the plunge.

Very few first deals are home runs, the goal is to take the plunge and learn as much as you can and build relationships!

Should I just take the plunge and jump in to the market now since I could actually afford to?

It took me a few years of researching, education, and networking to take the plunge.

Hey Robert - Did you take the plunge to invest in Lancaster? 

Kelli, for that big picture, you might check the classic of landlording lit, a blog post I made on some great starter books (should be free at library) then to fine tune, maybe look at this site under searches like applications, screening, leases......anyone taking the plunge has my vote!