You forget that I also said not to build in places too difficult to defend.

This could be very difficult if you are going to self-manage, as you will be turning units every year and dealing with a lot of repairs.

If you do something that is too high end or bold compared to what is available in the neighborhood, the exit could be very difficult 

I don't know how difficult of a task this would be, but suspect it would make for better quality forum content. 

First you have to face the local municipalities & will be extremely difficult to get the zoning approved. 

Having a long-term rental while living abroad is do-able.Flipping houses while abroad, in my opinion, more difficult, especially if its your first go around with real estate.I would recommend taking a flight and staying in the area for a week and inspect the neighborhoods and make connections.You can reach out to @Elenis Camargo who has a PM company in Jacksonville.Best of luck though.

while i do think it's valuable to analyze properties, it's really difficult to underwrite based on photos. 

Quote from @Yaroslav Shtogun: Thank you James,Do you know how difficult it is to do dimensional variance on the lot?

Learn what people are doing right now in this difficult market and find a way to replicate their success.A lot of people say they are actively investing.

Basically you can't have the yard be higher than 6 inches below the window sill (otherwise it would v difficult for people to exit out of this window in case of an emergency).