Any tips?

It'd be nice if I could receive help or tips from anyone (new or experienced).

If rent payments are missed or damages occur, this gives you legal recourse against any or all tenants.Best Practices:Professional property managers, like those managing rentals across North Texas, always screen every adult living in the home.

Any tips/tricks would be greatly appreciated.  

Welcome to the community and be ready for a huge amount of information at your finger tips.

One said the 2nd mortgage has to be assumable and the other said it did not.VA issued Circular #26­24­17 back in August to try and clear up the issue:Assumability: If the secondary borrowing is not assumable, the holder of the VA guaranteed loan should counsel the assumer that this may restrict their ability to sell the property to another creditworthy assumer through an assumption in the future.The lender currently servicing the loan still can decide whether or not they'll allow the 2nd.You could do seller financing for the gap and then refinance just that amount with a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit at some point down the road. 

Due to a very high entry level in my home state (Long Island, New York), I have turned to look at out of state markets, particularly Augusta, Georgia. 

Would love to connect and be a resource to you anyway that I can - I'm a realtor, and investor in the area and have some tips & tricks you can implement into your business and see if it helps! 

You can get a normal owner occupied home loan to do this. 

@Mike Levene do any of you own your homes currently?