One of my close relatives who is also in real estate introduced me to the site - great content here.

My first thought on this is yes, you will want to have representation of some type, especially if you are not an agent yourself and cannot get on site to verify the property.

The electric water heater actually keeps costs down in my situation and makes tenants become responsible for conserving resources. 

Welcome to the site.

My predicament comes from the situation of living in one of if not the most overpriced real estate markets in the world right now.My goal in joining this forum and building relationships with the people on this site is to navigate this difficult real estate market in order to advance my financial situation to better the life of my family.I understand allot to starting in this game is taking action and not sitting back on the fence but I find myself in an area that doesn't allow for an ideal return on equity as far as real estate investing for flipping/renting for positive cashflow.I look forward to having productive conversations with the fine people here on biggerpockets forum in hopes of helping other people succeed while succeeding myself in the ever changing world of real estate.Cheers,Matt Bouwman

While we are not forced to have an on-site property manager, I would likely have to hire one.

Hello All,I've been reading BP for the last couple of weeks and i really wished a resource like this was available when I took my first step into real estate.

I've gotten some great advice so far and am thrilled to have you all as a resource.

@Jay Hinrichs: I agree that it would be very difficult but can be possible if you can take on partners who have resources and you are bringing other value to the table.

Learning about investing should help your business even if you never invest in a property because it will make you a valuable resource for local investors.