It’s an older, established, middle class neighborhood. 

The lawyer he was working with was also well-established in the community (i.e. mentioned positively in local news articles) and the email addresses / phone numbers tied to public records.Nothing fancy here, but these were just some of the steps taken to vet a long-distance business partner in addition to your more typical DD and documentation on the deal and individual.

In many ways commercial loans are easier than residential loans, especially once you are established.

Any advice from the community and establishing solid deal flow in West Michigan?  

There are plenty of role play videos on YouTube that you can reference- most of these are Real Estate Agent scripts but can be applied to what you're doing as well.Do not aim to get the property owner to sell to you on the first contact... aim to establish and nourish the relationship!

Here's a blog post with some of the more common sources and some tips for establishing the fair market rent for a property: How to Determine Fair Market Rent.

At our company we like our clients to be involved as much as they want to be with the expectation of trust in our expertise for certain operational factors.Also, if the turnkey company has well-established policies in place for leasing, resident on-boarding, standardization of renovation approach (replacing capex items first and foremost), and property management, then they could be a good option for investors.Also, look to see if they have warranties in place to cover the renovations they have completed on the property.

I would consider establishing a budget for what you've saved and determine how long that money will last you while you fully dive into real estate investing.

Finally, with the use of Trusts while establishing these structures you can add a level of anonymity by removing your name from public record.When you establish a trust you can have your attorney sign as a "nominee trustee," and after the signing is complete you become the "trustee" per the language used to establish the trusts.

As you said, make sure to establish some connections, my wife and I purchased our primary residence this past summer and we have made a good relationship with our closing attorney and realtor.