I am betting your gonna find a lot more friendly amicable persons than shut doors. 

My recommendation would be to engage an investment property focused realtor (not a general residential realtor) and let that person guide you through the process from pre-qualification to market/property valuation and selection. 

My personal preference for a buy and hold would be an already established area (or an area that's still gentrifying, but has already seen significant progress). 

The absence of a personal guarantee from any disqualified persons is still required, just as with third-party financing.

It's always nice to get a personal referral. 

I personally have success in doing flips with my partner here in Ohio.Lakewood and Edgewater are gentrifying neighborhoods in Cleveland.

That's just my personal way of really feeling like I've comprehended the topics rather than just listened to them. 2.

Imagine making millions of dollars over the course of your career and then having to pay 30-50% every year to uncle sam instead of compounding that cash over time.This is exactly what real estate professionals have learned to mitigate.To reduce their taxable income, they just buy a building every year, do a cost seg, and use depreciation to reduce their tax liability dramatically.Their personal wealth snowball grows much larger and much faster than their W2 counterparts who give most of their money back to the government each year.Following this strategy as a real estate professional is one of best ways to end up with a much larger net worth at the end of your career.

The person I would seek advice from is a CPA about this. 

Don't talk yourself into a place because of personal use.Buying a $475k condo that brings in 35k in gross rental income will lose a lot of money.