Stop hanging out with your deadbeat buddies who spend all day drinking, talking sports, and otherwise wasting away.

But would like to get some insight and details about that market as I live in the Denver area and will be long-distance investing. 

Some items to be aware of include, but not limited to:  zoning in County may conflict with the City, utilities that belong to the City infrastructure may require that you annex the property prior to rezoning or other entitlement, County development standards may be different or less stringent than City standards which would cause the development to be non-compliant when annexed.I would echo the same as Bryant Brislin, you will definitely want to connect with someone that can navigate this process for you. 

Also he stole all the belongings of his ex girlfriend etc.

There is a 2-year statute of limitations, so that even if the notices are wrong, the redemption rights cannot be longer than 2 years.

Kris listened to the advice of someone several steps ahead of him life (who I think belonged to the same church as him).

Don’t go over the top on anything you won’t be long term living in yourself.  

Nothing in real estate is just writing checks and sipping umbrella drinks on a beach!   

It has to be longer-ish rentals.

It is quite an undertaking, processes will be long and unforeseen costs could pop up.