An hour commute is not that far that it requires you to move into an apartment.

@Monika Haebich I have 3 properties striking distance from downtown.

It's an older place and the staircase (while carpeted and padded) has to get pretty high in a small distance.

., not dropping by anytime)...You could even get economy of scale when you do maintenance--just build a gate (with lock) and run the lawn mower right over both lawns, clean both gutters on the same day, easy commute for turn arounds and showings...Who says you can't pick your neighbors (you potentially could!)...

I've never rented a single family home in this city so I don't want to give you an exact number but I would imagine you could get $1,000 a month +-$200 Fortunately for you you're within walking distance of downtown.

Don't deal in marginal properties, which are going to attract marginal tenants, who have a much shorter distance to hitting bottom, if they're going to.

For your question about investing out of state, David Greene wrote Long Distance Real Estate Investing, which is probably your best bet if you are planning that route. 

You'll be doing this remotely... so I may also consider purchasing the book on long distance investing by David Greene from BiggerPockets which is a good overview 

Since people are successful locally, maybe rule out long-distance investing and focus on how to do this in our back yard?  

I have owned a single family home for about a year and dont make a lot of cash flow from this property.  I have great tenants who pay on time and are super easy.  I live in California and manage the property myself wh...