As a new real estate investor, you should start in your own back yard where you have the advantage of first hand knowledge of the market, the customs, expectations, laws, and a network of friends and acquaintances who can help with advice.  

But I also see how this increases your risk because people know you might not know what you're really doing.For my OOS investmentI Idid purposely look for homes that were in better condition and had big ticket items already done so that I wouldn't have to do them.

@Celena LathropThat train of thought still runs inside me but I believe I need to keep on increasing my credit score, pay off as much debt as I can before I am able to make that type of purchase right?

Customizing your message is going to work fine for you.This brings up an idea, perhaps BP can "certify" a Pro Account user who has been on the site for at least 12 months and has a clean record.

You can easily pour $10,000 into a renovation that will only increase the sale price of a home by $4,000.

Buying a rental, even a turn-key, increases your income.

Somehow, my cousin is convinced that if something worse were to happen to his parents (they are 90 and 88 yrs old with increasingly challenging health issues), and they would to be cared for in a nursing home, that the state of NJ would step in and claim all the assets to "pay" for their care.  

The answer depends on the speed you can get a simple, professional website with basic information and a fillable form to capture customer data.

When you say that refinancing limits your ability to write off interest, do you mean that you won't be able to write off the additional interest increases or do you mean that it will also hinder the previous amounts as well?

I would definitely increase the rents to where they make sense for the deal immediately, but keep them month to month just in case they are nightmare tenants.