These are again the pitfalls of being an out of state investor.  

One is new with not much experience or knowledge to offer or results to show, but they are full of excitement and seem motivated and the other person has made money doing this for himself/herself and can show results and can speak to the pitfalls they've learned to avoid and knows and understands the loan products, the markets they are in, and the cycles of RE.You have to put your 250k with one of them, which one you going with?

There is a a ton of good advice above and while section 8 has it's pitfalls, it can also be a valued part of any investment portfolio.

What I can ad is, here are some pitfalls/factors to be aware of when making that decision and when evaluating specific PMs. 

Could you share your success stories and maybe some pitfalls to avoid?

At his meet ups, he shares about the pitfalls of ambition for financial gain, inspires people to live meaningful, generous lives. 

You just have to make sure you are getting a good deal and are prepared for any potential pit falls.

More value the less versed you are in real estate.But the process is actually quite simple, the boilerplate  contract is not rife with pitfalls, and you'll have a lawyer there to help facilitate all of that as well.Ultimately, in an era where I can buy and sell stock for zero commission, and information is incredible easy to access, 5% of the value of the house seems like an absurdly mispriced service. 

All of those things cost money and should be accounted for in the initial equations or at the very least, a part of the monthly rents should be set aside to build up a reserve amount, but that would reduce the monthly "profit".Maybe this property will be all sunshine and lollipops and I hope it is, but I see lots of potential pitfalls and costs when margins are this slim.  

I live in Phoenix Arizona and would love some experienced opinions and advice on possible pitfalls to avoid.