We have rented the long term unit to family friends for over a year and the bills were always reasonable.

To get started, consider focusing on house hacking in California with properties like duplexes or single-family homes with ADUs, or explore out-of-state rentals in landlord-friendly markets like Ohio or Georgia.

A landlord friendly state won't save you from a bad deal.Not trying to be discouraging, just realistic. 

Quote from @Michael Poloncic: Three individuals signed a lease together, all friends, the lease is set up where each of them are expected to pay 1/3 of the rent.

@Brett Coultas if you're a newbie, you want to be careful of an "investor friendly" agent selling you something they truly don't understand:(95+% of agents only know how to handle owner-occupied transactions - you can verify this by asking them calculate ROI for you or Cash-On-Cash!

We’re in the exact same boat my friend.

I don't know the Baltimore market but have a friend who is a very savvy investor there and maybe he would do some coaching to help you understand which way is up.

Sacramento metro by contrast is more friendly, and there are some areas we target here that do very well for STR.

In this case, you would draft an operating agreement that specifies each partner's role—your friend providing the cash and you handling the rehab and management—and that profits and ownership are split evenly.

But Mathew's comments above have given me pause, as most of my friends in the neighborhood that could afford the rent of a new condo have a car (or two).