Dig deep for online reviews, Better Business Bureau and their State Real Estate Board, etc.- Do be open-minded though as we have many of the above from tenants who claim we illegally evicted them (so, somehow we got a signed Write illegally?)

I grew up in RI and my dad is a carpenter in the area (was as my parents recently moved to FL) but that got me into that market with some local presence as I stayed in the Boston area. (4) properties and 14 units later, I still find myself investing in RI as the price point is about half of Boston but the cash flow is similar.

Atlanta MSA is great and growing, but Multi-Family supply coming on line there both now and through next year is significant, wouldn't this be a better/cheaper deal 1 year from now?

We live in California at the moment and I have W2 job and my wife a small online business.

One tip is to start looking into meetups to connect with investors / others in the REI game (in person/online).

I think I've talked to maybe 2 tenants on the phone so far, and I didn't mind because there's a lot of scams online.

It would be nice if you gave them more than that, because it takes a lot of effort to move a business (online marketing, business cards, etc.).

JohnFirst look at your states licensing laws, they can easily be found online.

If they are available online or in person.

There's also free services for tenants to pay their rent online which include some light accounting features.