On the western slope unemployment is rising and prices are falling except in the resorts which I am not sure about.  

I also listen to a ton of podcasts and through that you will learn some of the more well known "players" of the business.

I've been consistently building my buyers list,  teaching what I know so far to potential partners,  now looking to network with like-minded team players. 

BP trains legions of wholesalers and fix and flippers raise substantial funds to fund these folks and also turn  key companies... can it get any better.so there you go it will never be the same.... real estate if anything is constantly changing and if you want to be a player you need to be able to move with whats hot... just my voyage... 

Looking at comps I could probably get $1300-1500/m per unit, so $4000+/m total with current mortgage around $2300/m.2) My other option would be to rent out our main house, and then purchase 2-4 small rental properties in a resort town 2 hours away and rent them year round.Which options make sense? 

They then resort to lies and deception to get sellers to sign the contract.

I'd love to buy here but have resorted to out-of-state for now.

You can find these guys/gals at local REIAs, and by calling on bandit signs (often they are the one's putting them up) and by asking around: "Who's the biggest player in this market?"  

The thing is though, because I'm not there, I'm left to resort to economic and population forecasts by "expert analysts", which I'd rather not rely on too much.

I know at least one of the bigger players provides it to users for free until they pass 50 units.PM software is great and everyone should use it but it is not the direct competitor of the PM.