No harm in doing a bit of both networking for a team and looking for the deal/farm area.

If you're just starting out and let's say the property is pretty close by, I don't see the harm in checking it out.

The current standing that lead to a corporate take over starting in mid to late 80's has only harmed our country to enrich a very tiny %.

I had great hopes of building a relationship here, but I feel that not only are they not being helpful, they are being harmful to my bottom line. 

They have been pretty successful in pushing back on some of the harmful legislation that has been proposed lately. 

I explained that this group was just a bunch of old men that got together and made pasties to raise money for kids groups, nothing harmful.  

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

Usually owners who are willing to entertain seller financing want to see that the buyer has a track record of owning (and successfully paying on) multiple properties, so they can feel reasonably assured they will get paid on their own (seller financing) mortgage.But, that said, there's no harm in asking a potential seller if they have a mortgage and if not, if they'd be willing to take payments over time instead of all at once (i.e., seller financing).

We don’t know any PMCs to recommend in the area mentioned, but since selecting the wrong PMC is usually more harmful than selecting a bad tenant, you might want to read our series about “How to Screen a PMC Better than a Tenant”:https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/3094/91877-how-to-screen-a-pmc-better-than-a-tenant-part-1-services-and-processesWe recommend you get management contracts from several PMCs and compare the services they cover and, more importantly, what they each DO NOT cover.

I perfectly understand the strategy of having paid down or paid off homes which creates that "comfort level", but on the flip side, you are storing cash within the walls of your homes earning zero interest or return.In the event of the potential future "crash", the value of your properties going down and holding 30 year mortgages over 15 year does not place you in any more harm's way so long as you manage and keep those rentals filled with tenants.