I would go on furnishedfinder.com which will allow you to look at MTR's in your area, see what they rent for, and see how many are "available now" vs at some point in the future.

At that time, my friend encouraged me to get into real estate with the idea of creating passive income and wealth in future (via appreciation).

If your children decide to sell it (you can't predict the future), they will likely face steep capital gains tax. 

We're new to real estate and would appreciate advice on our current home in Texas and our future place in Oregon.We love our house in Austin and aren't ready to sell, but as a long-term rental, it would yield (from what I understand) negative cash flow, covering principal and interest but not taxes and insurance.

Congratulations for thinking about your future.

A new future real estate agent and real estate investor here!

We're currently living in Idaho so attendance will be difficult in the near future but we'll have to plan a trip to Sac or make sure to attend a meeting when we move! 

I have a vision of building and developing mobile home communities in upstate NY that are vertically integrated to allow future members to choose from a catalog of homes, have them installed, provide them with financing options, and make the process of selecting, buying, and living in the community very smooth.Since this is my first time doing this, I would love to chat with an experienced mobile home developer on the following items:Zoning - navigating the zoning process to allow the community to be allowedStart up costs - I am a finance person who would love to better understand start up costs - septic / electrical / water / pads / roads / etcOn Going Maint Costs - in building our business case, I want to build a conservative financial model to capture all re-occurring expenses - utilities, landscaping, capex, septic clean out, etc.I know this is a lot, but would greatly appreciate talking to someone who is an expert in this asset class!

From there, I would like to consider a 1031 exchange in the future to acquire more units.My current property management company suggested that they could handle a mid sized apartment building but I would absolutely not consider them for it as I believe they have overextended themselves and communication is lacking.

Meaning you may be able to do some cosmetic or smaller renovations like bathrooms or kitchens in your duplex when the tenants turn over and those smaller investments can demand higher rents, so in the longterm you may have more cashflow from the duplex to help fund a future investment in another property while you wait for market conditions to change.