There are even web sites that "prescribe" the animal for a small fee, having never even met the individual.

You can do a lot of online searching on the crime, real estate, economics, etc web sites to get an idea of the area you want to invest in.Visit the area personally once you have decided where you may want to invest.Find a real estate agent that works with investors and has knowledge of the area, comps both purchase and rental.Hopefully others that actually did the out of state investing while never living there can chime in and give you more details.

Works very well, I have far more 5 star reviews than most of my competition, which keeps me booked.Guide Book, online (web site/blog, vrbo app) and physical binder at the property.

I currently have a very basic website that really just gives us a presence on the web.

I know the seller may think their 1 year lease option on their home will sell, but you don't know how qualified that buyer was, or how that deal was structured - and no matter how well you qualify (you can even make them sign a blood oath and give you their first born child as collateral), you're still looking at a 50-70% likelihood that the other buyer will actually buy their home - I don't like gambling on a 20-50% chance that I'll lose. 

That is Form processing in the clients browser and CGI processing on the hosted site.Unless you have web experience, you will need a web back-end programmer (not a front-end eye candy kind of programmer).

However, I had done my research on the web and found Bigger Pockets here, and educated the living crap out of myself.  

A quick web search will get you all of their contact info.

It allows you to give prospective tenants a short link web page for the unit, also they can text a code to a text number and get the link to view the listing.

Hi @Matt Dickey,Welcome, If you are not in a need to sell "now" situation and don't mind spending your money on print/web advertising, go ahead and do it FSBO for a couple months and see if it sells.