El Paso cash flows beautifully with minimum down payment and has plenty of choices.

Smoky Mountains seems to be a solid choice but I wonder about oversaturation and competition in that area?  

Popular choices like Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard let you invest in a range of stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs.

Ultimately it is either a long process to get a check/fix, or they deny the claim.    

As a first step, I’ll print and read The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing.

Outside of real estate, I’m a huge sports fan, so you can usually find me glued to almost every game on the weekends.My interest in real estate began as I explored different ways to generate passive income, which ultimately led me to the BiggerPockets community.

I looked at some properties in the Catskills last week that ultimately didn't fit the criteria.

Here's info on screening tenants here from BP - and a link to a screening partner.BP's Tenant Screening - Ultimate GuideGood luck.

You will still have to make decisions, and ultimately, you are entrusting someone else with your asset.

For more info on Cleveland you'll want to read The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods.