During the oil sweep testing we were made aware of a 550 gallon tank in front of the property under cement.

The material participation tests under these special rules for real estate professionals are the same as those that apply for purposes of classifying other activities as passive or nonpassive—i.e., the taxpayer is considered to have materially participated in an activity by meeting one of the seven tests (or three tests for a limited partner interest) outlined in section. 

After paying your contractor for some modernizing touches, you have a slim $2,750 invested.

Also be aware that many states require Property Manager licensing, which generally requires a 40 hour class and testing.

Direct mail is super expensive and the results are very slim to zero.

No exam or skill tests?

Test multiple ads on craigslist, if you set a price and get a lot of results, your too low. 

After working under a broker a certain amount of years you can test for the brokers license.

Multiple quotes on jobs is the best test of a vendors.  

Every area is good for rentals if you have the right properties and rent prices.There are areas, however, where I don't want to own rentals.That being said, Craigslist is not a way to test the strength of a market.