Management fees are steep, you're competing w/ bigger operators as well as mom & pop places - it's hard to get the personalized care needed, in my opinion, to be successful. 

Bigger Pockets censored my past my post about the  software from Freedom Soft.

If this is not something you're interested in delving into and learning to a high degree, then investing in publicly traded REITs would be another good option for you, which have historically returned about 13.5 per cent Per year over the past 50 years (1977-present), beating the US stock market by two per cent and even beating private real estate investing by 4 per cent (that's compared with the average real estate investor, not the experts here at Bigger Pockets).

I recently bought my first investment property with a conventional loan, but the lack of W2s and living overseas made it a bigger hassle.

Condos are cheaper than houses, and to my mind, a vacationer wouldn't care much about staying in a bigger place for their short stay, and would be more concerned with a good location and a nice view.Thoughts?

Meetup.com is a good resource for those but some of the groups will also post here on Bigger Pockets Marketplace too.

I am looking forward to connecting with the Bigger Pockets network. 

If you do not have an accounting program I highly recommend STESSA it's affordable and Bigger Pockets recommends it.

First ever post on Bigger Pockets.

Curious on what actual investors experience as the bigger cities like Cleveland, Toledo, and Columbus are discussed more often here.The best way to investigate areas?