Here are some practical tips and insights based on my experience managing a real estate fund and working in this field.First, setting realistic expectations.

Never buy without personally inspecting and approving the property and INDEPENDENTLY, INDEPENDENTLY, INDEPENDENTLY, verifying everything from values to market rates, to approving tenant selection procedures and standards, to repairmen on standby, to everything else in Christendom that you can thing of.I am not a fan of out-of-state investing, especially for those with less than 50 years of experience, and for them, they’re probably too old for the hassle. 

I believe this is fairly standard across the board.

.: It's not an issue IF their lease is scheduled to expire.My personal practice: when a tenant submits an application, I let them know I intend to contact their former landlords.

Many of them have restrictions that you must owner-occupy the property for a minimum number of years - or you'll have to pay it back with interest.Also, the standard mortgage requires you to owner-occupy a property for a minimum of 12 months before renting it out.

I mean can you consistently provide an industry standard finished product similat to what the licensed trades would provice)

All he has to do is to not make it a "blanket" moritorium and make the tenants prove economic hardship through predetermined government standards and let us evict those taking advantage.   

In my experience, late payers often become non payers; so, I stick with the practice above.

Most standard MLS contracts now include a box check for 1031 exchanges. 

The number crunching is probably the easiest part, whereas the networking and deal sourcing are all skills I'd need practice with.