I have been consuming as much education/reading regarding out of state investing as I can as well as literature regarding buying larger buildings (not quite the syndication level) although I have been reading that material as well to digest.

I purchased my first buy and hold SF rental property last year and turned the property into a student rental as it was very close to a local College.

I generally agree that buying SFH as first investment is an easy way to test the waters; however, if you’re set on REI I suggest buying a duplex or quad.

Do you need to sell it in order to buy something else? 

Quote from @Jaycee Greene: Quote from @Jeffrey Eschbach: Investment Info:Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment.

I've worn three hats in the seller financing world (as a property buyer, as a property seller offering terms, and as an investor that buys seller financed note). 

I am an out-of-state buy and hold investor looking to start purchasing STR's in the Akron/Canton, OH area.

Since you know what you need to buy it at and an average rehab cost, I would say $50-70k for a cosmetic flip, set the ARV based on the sample you choose and doing comps and ask them if they would invest in a deal similar to this. 

Too bad you can't buy something owner-occupied, put 5% down with the best interest rate, live in it for 12 months (and fix it up), rent it out and repeat the cycle.Here's some other info you might find useful:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Imagine making millions of dollars over the course of your career and then having to pay 30-50% every year to uncle sam instead of compounding that cash over time.This is exactly what real estate professionals have learned to mitigate.To reduce their taxable income, they just buy a building every year, do a cost seg, and use depreciation to reduce their tax liability dramatically.Their personal wealth snowball grows much larger and much faster than their W2 counterparts who give most of their money back to the government each year.Following this strategy as a real estate professional is one of best ways to end up with a much larger net worth at the end of your career.