. , I definitely don't condone complete time waste, but I certainly think you should do it in an appropriate manner. 

Would not waste the time.

Make sure you have a solid emergency fund and have done your research about rental rates before making your rental home purchase.

Without a solid game plan, and numbers that you want to hit.

That has not worked and I've lost out on a few homes I was very interested in because the agent either didn't get back to me in time, or didn't know the area well to offer solid advice, or didn't want to put in much of an effort other than to send my some automated search result (which I often had already). 

Once you are all on the same page, have the same expectations and a rock solid agreement and plan in place then the fun begins.

You get to learn a TON about how your business should work, and will avoid losing loads of cash to a management company—they may be convenient but the good ones aren't cheap.Plus, it's not too hard to find good software and tools to help you out with managing, if you want something more solid than an Excel sheet and a contact list.

Most of the time a good rental will be in a solid neighborhood, but it won’t be huge, it won’t be new, and it won’t have granite countertops.

I invest in my home town (also where the Guard base is), but it just happens to also be a solid stable market.

I wholeheartedly agree with @Bill Hampton that the local REIAs (and there are a few) are the best way to get started.Also, I urge you not to attempt seller financing without solid, state-specific training and documents.