Last time I did it, there were closing costs associated with it, so it is not free.

They actually found me through our local 'landlords association' where they were reaching out to investors.

You can at least prevent/reduce the credit card letters by asking the credit bureaus to stop selling your address and by putting your name on the direct mail associations "do not mail" list.

Deposits rarely cover the costs associated with turn over with this type of property management.

Look up their phone and addresses on the free skip trace sites.Keep calling everyone associated to them until you get through.Its a numbers game but picking up the phone is not as hard as you might think once you get the ball rolling.Good Luck

You can do that from the begining, but might be overkill (since you'll have to learn to properly manage an LLC and there will be some costs associated).

I’ve definitely thought about the possible difficulties associated with welding and real estate.

@Brandi Van, is there any room associated with this rental idea where someone could spend the night or you're looking at hosting events there?

Apart from the mortgage, I would need to pay the homeowners insurance ($2,000) and homeowner's association fee ($500). 

I’m thinking about learning from the above US Tax Lien association?