For "buy and hold" investors, the markets support rental properties, with high demand, and very low vacancy rates.Texas and Oklahoma also have many other smaller markets in both states where you can do very well investing based on oil & gas prices and pick up properties very cheap that will rent for more than 2%.

After that, I was going to use a large portion of the remaining (~$130K) toward the cash purchase of a cheap place I can rent in another city, hence the original post. 

They are poorly manufactured with cheap materials and nothing ore than trailers that are put up on blocks with a lattice around as a skirt to hide the wheels and frame.

Do you want people thinking you are cheap and unwilling to be fair?

Resealing them isn't cheap and potholes can be hazards/lawsuits waiting to happen.

Doing two small one bed/baths really cheap for 15 (they are gutted) so as long as you make sure you're good with zoning then do it.

The best place to start is a nice cheap house so you can make your mistakes without wiping you out.

There are several reasons why I prefer a 30 year compared to lower amortized loans. 1) get a higher ROI2) lower mortgage payment every month3) higher cash flow 4) locked in at low interest rate5) option to pay down sooner6) money is very cheap right now.

In other states LLC's are dirt cheap to maintain and you can get away with having one LLC per property.

Pittsburgh REIA is a great place to meet people and is free for the first time (after that it is pretty cheap as well even if you pay per meeting).