Note; I would not recommend making lowest price your primary decision driver.

Driver around all the streets and look for vacant houses.

Some of the primary economic drivers include Marion General Hospital, Cafe Valley, a GM transmission plant, and the small campus of Indiana Wesleyan University (a little under 3,000 enrolled).

Currently I am using contractors to do that but that seems to put the contractor(s) in the drivers seat and me in the backseat of the car and I would like to change that.I want to know everything that I need to know before I get a contractor to do a bid on the job.  

Is it normal procedure to request a copy of the drivers license and social security card, and an application fee, before accepting the application?

Getting the experience of managing a LTR first will put you in a better position to eventually manage a property manager at a vacation property--if that's a route you decide to take...but, jumping right into a vacation property (with or without a property manager) is sort of like hopping in a car and going on a busy interstate before you've ever had any experience driving, and before you've taken any driver's ed courses.Lastly, another benefit of a SF LTR is that--if you buy in a good neighborhood--it will probably have more stable appreciation and rent income than a vacation property. 

They take their chances because they know many other drivers are also speeding and there's only one patrolman for every x-miles stretch of road, so they cross their fingers they won't get caught, and if they do, they'll say "I didn't know" and hope the fine is less value lost than all the time they have saved over the years getting to their destination faster. 

Nope says the driver with a lock and chain in is hand.

Hello BP,My name's Ben Parker, I'm 33 years old, single and originally from Colorado. I'm looking to invest in rental properties while continuing to work full time. My biggest hurdle, and the reason I'm here, is never...

Just bought a 8-unix complex out-of-state,will post the details once everything wrapped up in the forum.Still keep learning the apartment industry/market, since some apartment Gurus once said "The learning curve is the industry/market,not the property itself".Keep looking for the reasonable markets for my investment, since every market is local for real estate.During this process,I found some kind of driver factors for different markets.