You can also meet other industry professionals like loan officers and real estate agents that can give you market specific real-world advice.

As that will at least help folks that you reach out to know that you are a real person, with a picture and professional bio.

1) understand financing options and most likely option for you2) will you self manage or hire a PM?

Or maybe you set yourself up more like a professional property manager, where you earn extra money for placing a tenant and/or a percentage of the rent each month rather than just an hourly rate when you have to jump into action. 

If not then need to hire a builder 

I also recommend you consider looking at a professional property manager that can protect you from these mistakes and maybe even put more money in your pocket.

Traveling professionals are typically going to use a site like FF or Airbnb.

Leslie and her team are very professional and overall solid to work with.

I have a few questions about handling this situation:- should I hire and pay for a plumber to go into their unit to cut open the ceiling and identify the source of the leak? 

They take a lot of money, and often my clients are most unhappy when they hire a PM to manage their midterm.