At the end of the day, you will need to pick 1-2 things and excel at them as opposed to trying to learn everything about the industry.

Driving through an area and talking to neighbors is priceless, but asking other local real estate investors who own things in that area is also priceless.I'd say, investing out of state has a lot to do with your team on the ground, so you really want to do some research and put some effort into picking good people for your team.I hope this helps, and let us know if you have more specific questions of course!

There are a slew of people on BP, ranging from very conservative to very risky investors...but you have picked a good forum through which to educate yourself.Since you are not desperate, don't let anyone talk you into hasty decision. 

If you pick the right tenants, you will not have any issues.

I'd go with Columbus if I had to pick one of your three.

Others prefer individually picking vendors one at a time and building a more complex but also more specialized team.

I'd be perfectly happy to pick up someones scraps.

You can pick up more and more $700 a month rent units faster than more expensive units.As others have said, it totally depends on goals.

I'd recommend picking up J Scott's book on flipping houses.

My question is, should I market to everyone even though I can't afford to do them alone and hopefully be able to find a partner once I get a deal under contract OR pick out the properties I can afford and only market to them??