Columbus & Raleigh-Durham are both great places to invest as an out-of-state new investor Short-term rentals can be challenging and is always subject to new local registration and taxes. 

I also have a seperate list of courthouse data, Probates, Divorce, Tax leins, Ect.

However, the self employment could (or could not) pose an issue depending on how much you pay yourself yearly and what you report on your tax returns.  

The last thing you want is to buy something and the Agent's estimate on rent and/or reassesed taxes was wrong and you end up with a non income producing property. 

It's not worth risking the invalidation of your IRA account which would cause penalties and taxes.  

To add to this there may be some tax related questions you may want to speak with your accountant about. 

I've been paying escrow+mortgage on rentals since 2015 and never had this happen to me.Details:Mortgage company does an escrow analysis and finds the following:2023 Taxes $1648 + Insurance $1634 = Total: $3282New Escrow for 2024Taxes $2331 + Insurance $1918 = NEW TOTAL: $4250- With increased tax and insurance I owe $968 more on escrow.- $968 difference paid out over 12 months would be $80.60 per month MORE.The mortgage company is claiming that I owe $3,000 MORE in escrow and is charging me an additional $250 per month.I checked with them and I've NEVER missed a payment and have been up to date this whole time.They say its not a mistake but couldn't explain why I owed $3000 more instead of $968 more for the year.Am I missing something? 

As an agent, I scrub the tax and property records for data to find off market deals and skip trace using a combination of spokeo (alright) and batch skip tracing (better) and call using mojo dialer. 

If you are cashing out then don't forget your taxes.

You get all the benefits of real estate (cash flow, appreciation, tax benefits) with none of the headaches of becoming a landlord.Food for thought, and something I wish I'd figured out much earlier in my real estate investing career.