Single-family long-term rental to get our feet wet?

Would definitely recommend reading Brian Burke's Hand's off Investor to get your feet wet and understand the whole process.Once you have a grasp on the processes and the lingo, what I would do is sit down and write out what you want out of an operator. 

As other mentioned, your best bet is to partner with a builder or developer and get your feet wet on something small maybe.

Bathroom Towels - Keep all wet or damp towels in the bathroom only.8.

If any water leaked then I will use a wet vac and clean it up.

Would you consider rental arbitrage as a way to get your feet wet?

The top foot was just mud, theres actually still snow on the ground, and the soil is very wet and easy to dig, even when i dug by hand..bout 2 feet down theres like clay or some harder dirt that is a pain to get through.. plus even the mud was freezing come around 8 tonight.. by 9:30 when i left i was walking on top of the mud tracks the bobcat made, without getting muddy!

Is this the right approach, or should I get my first property just within Gatlinburg to just get my feet wet?

Are your basement walls wet? 

Foundation issues are very common in our area due to expansive soils (bentonite volcanic-ash clay that expands when it gets wet and shrinks when it dries, especially bad in certain locations on the W side of Denver, parts of Golden and Superior).