I live in the bay area and will be investing out of state (OOS), I know by reading in the forum that Midwest is the place to go, I originally planned to go to Indianapolis however the multi family houses that I encountered are on the older side as such will have a higher cost of maintenance, the realtor I am working with setup my automated search in the 46201, 203, 205 ranging in the $120 - 190K range. 

I did receive an automated phone call from a local inspector to come and take them down after a period but once i did and alerted them to that they stopped calling me.

Edit: Shoot, can't believe I didn't think to add this as it fits my interests, but I think the Smart Home/Automation trend is really cool and hope to be able to get more involved with that.

From fully automated Kiosks (an ATM looking thing that rents the unit, sets up auto billing on tenants bank or credit card, dispenses a lock if the new tenant wants to buy one etc), to smart phone Apps that do the same thing (except vend a lock) to 24 hour USA based call centers that will manage the business and rent the units for those customers who want a human to talk to (and the Kiosk software, smarphone App software, and call center sofware can all be seemlessly integrated within your business management software.

Maybe you will find my new website in a search for DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE FREE HELP in google IF I get the system automated.

However, I've found that by regularly checking Zillow, I can find relevant listings about as well as those automated searches.I've heard that agents can see information in MLS that ordinary mortals can't, and that this information can be valuable.

We are wanting to get this place brought up to the current times and try to automate payments and accept them online. 

Does anyone know how to create an automation that will pull property comps from Zillow and put them into your Podio automatically?

My best advice is to determine what/where you are looking, be automated in your searches, get financing in order, move quickly on deals and most definitely feel free to reach out to others that know the markets you are interested in.

Mainly, the systems implemented are fascinating (VA, automated offers, etc.)