We have a lot to learn, but are excited to begin our investment journey.

Excited to connect and learn about this market 

You're learning about the eviction process, tenant screening (never "word of mouth" again), the power of a lease WHEN not IF a neutral third party needs to be involved, tenant/landlord laws, and managing tenants who don't care about your business the way you do. 

You really have to learn the neighborhoods or work with a sales agent who does.

And a lot of old school GCs may not have the ability to take a CC and may not care to learn how to...Main question is: why do you want to do this?

Nights, weekends, holidays, etc.To keep this on-topic, though...DO figure out what's healthy for you to manage but remember it's a process where every experience teaches you good and bad (and be patient with that process).DON'T sweat the small stuff (damage/costs under $50, undisclosed dogs, etc.) but DO find a way to learn, prevent, put in better practices to maintain your sanity. 

Lessons learned?

Where / How can I learn what neighborhoods in Syracuse and the surrounding neighborhoods would fall into those (subjective) categories?

Nobody watches your money like you do, you'll learn how to manage, so you can manage a manager later and you'll save precious early-years cash flow, which allows you to scale faster, especially in the first 5 years.

I’m excited to learn from your experiences and advice.