@Matthew Beasley, not really anything consistent from the folks in the Charleston area. 

It's hard to harvest equity on these plays, unless you commit, long-term, towards very light leverage, as the only practical ways to benefit from the equity in your portfolio, if you plan to never sell it, only exchange it, for a lifetime, are to spend the cash flow, or cash out refi.

It drives me crazy when I hear these stories preventive maintenance is what should be practiced and discussing all avenues of the deal and the borrowers docs in advance.   

While it's more expensive than Ohio, it's still cheaper compared to California.Additionally, consider the practicality of traveling to your investment market.

The section references age in many places, consistently mentioning the end of the year.

How legit is their practice if you have an idea about it?

It can be a long process over time with multiple dynamics you have to be on top of consistently.

- Any lessons learned or best practices you’d recommend for someone leaning toward this approach?

The cons as i see it include loosing the 2 of 5 year cap gain exception, typically not an ideal rental because the emphasis at purchase was buying a good home for your family and not a rental with optimal return (my ex-home consistently has the lowest cash flow for equity in my RE portfolio), not disconnected enough from the property causes addition angst on damage and may result in over improvement.  

Here you go: https://dicksonlawgroup.com/practice-areas/landlord-tenant-d...The biggest difference between eviction attorneys is pricing.