Wait until you have a couple of properties.You need a purchase & sale agreement, a disclosure telling the seller the risks and a written authorization from the seller to you, to allow you to talk to their bank.

All depends on the amount of risk you are willing to take on. 

The biggest risks financially would be that you buy into a condo association that issues a special assessment in the future or starts prohibiting rentals.

Sure they cost more to acquire, but I believe the tenant quality is a lot higher and mitigate a lot of risk, especially important for an out of town investor.

It's those maniacs that buy homes cash via quit claim deed off of craigslist that really get screwed.Make sure your property manager is a licensed real estate brokerage.Understand you can not eliminate all risk, only mitigate it.

There is some grey, but do you want to be open to the risk by playing in the grey? 

Can you reinvest it with a higher return with less risk?

There is risk - so the reward should be good (better than the "safe" bank would offer).

The situation is very fact-specific, but if you're looking at the rental property on a risk-reward continuum, do you really want to take the risk of owing a tenant a boatload of money at the end of the lease term?

I recommend talking with an insurance broker/risk manager that currently doesn't insure you to tell you the amount of risk you undertake with a pool.