Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

Accountants are in such demand, that the best are not even accepting clients half the time.The other problem I see often with accountants on here is that they specialize in larger investors, and have really high prices when you as a smaller investor do not need all the bells and whistles.Another thing I see is folks thinking they need to have a tax professional in their state.

It may also be beneficial to seek advice from real estate professionals or financial advisors with experience in this type of situation.

A vacancy makes a landlord squirm and seek out a professional to help them. 

In most states, auction bidders don’t have any opportunity to view the inside of the property before they bid, let alone hire a professional inspector to inspect the property.

So, if your sub2 seller declares bankruptcy ... and you did things correctly, you have a very short period of time to refinance.If your sub2 is not done correctly, it will be tied up in court you will have to hire a lawyer.

@Abby Flynna few random thoughts-definitely stay local (for now) - you have a lot of great markets within a couple hours of where you are-it's very difficult to 'start' with a flip - flips take capital and you're going up against all the professional flippers who flip as a business-go to all the local REIA meetings within a 1-2 hour radius - find the ones you like - go to those regularly-call lenders and discuss loan options. 

In cases where I rent a room I just rely on checking they have a professional health care license and a job in the area but that is only because the roommate is my son.  

I do have a handyman, but it can be time intensive OR money intensive as I hire someone to run something over to the guests and have to pay them to do it.  

How about this: TX trust -> Wyoming LLC(with a professional registered agent).Trust is generally preferred by lenders over LLCs.If OP gets sued for personal reasons, the plaintiff would not be able to discover his property even if they searched every state.