I highly encourage all my tenants to keep open communication with me about any struggles to pay rent, and generally they do.

Miami is still doing well, Fort Myers is adjusting and has lower real estate than 12 months ago, etc..)My simple thought, for what it is worth, is choose a place to live and not invest in:  choose the location you and your family WANT to live in ( because of the schools, taxes, weather, other family there, etc...) and then buy and do real estate there (and get whatever licenses you need once you start third party management).I wish you well!

This will cut down significantly on the issues you may have down the road with communication, paying rent on time, caring for property, etc. 

For this situation, communicate very clearly and bluntly with the tenants and try to realign expectations so they don’t do this same with you.

Last time I used them it was quick responses and communication and now I cannot get in touch with them is anyone else having this experience?

Read some books, preferably those written prior to 2015 when YouTube gurus started telling everyone how easy it is to buy 17 houses a year with no money down.Investing is pretty simple if you just follow the process investors were using since the beginning of time.

My core investing philosophy is pretty simple, and has done very well across almost two decades and numerous cities:1) Invest in cities with population (and job) growth2) Invest in parts of the city where household income is near the median (or slightly below)3) Invest in properties that provide cash flow from day 1 Thank you for sharing that. 

The “methodology” the guru presents either isn’t all that profitable, isn’t as simple to enact as he suggests, and or works only with certain limits as to economic climate, geographical area, etc.2.

This means you may need to put more down on one home so it pays for itself.Here's Coach Carson explaining the simple concept in under 20 minutes.

all of the things your talking about are readily available to you with simple google searches etc.PS BP has work shops that cost some money I have not been but I suspect those would be well worth the money..