It's hard to work up enthusiasm for going and doing an estimate -which takes a good while to do properly - for an investor with an unknown track record.

California is famous for going after out of state landlords and a few other states are doing the same as they try to replenish their coffers after the economic downturn of the last several years.If you do have rental profits, almost every state will require you to file a return and pay taxes as a non-resident.  

Will do.I've found some construction bridge loan opportunities in other states that I need someone to do due diligence on Terrific websites can be built for a song and I just don't know how to vet the owners.

@kevin GeraceGood for you for going back over there.

I chose to forgo my interests in real estate a couple of years ago and chose respiratory therapy and I am now burned out.

I would however not buy a property as an investor/agent if I was asked to forgo my commission.

So typically asking for something that many people forgo is going to be a no go.  

Learn from the pros.Be humble and be willing to forgo your own ego in order to show the veterans that you are in this for the right reasons and that you're here for the long-run.

By using the correct terms with those who know circumvents the long song and dance of getting to a point quickly and professionally. 

if you borrow 400k at 5% with a 20 year am your payment would come in @ 2.639k  leaving you a cash flow of roughly $900 a month.If you forgo the 1031, eat that tax and and invest the 250k you should be able to get a 4 plex, rented at 550 per unit yielding 2.2k in gross rents netting 1.1k (using the 50% rule) but you don't have all the other units rented out and tenants paying the mortgage for you building equity.Note these are rough numbers but my wife recently helped a client buy a 8 plex here in PHX and the buyer looked at a lot of properties over an extended period before finding one that worked  for them.