They deserve some positive press and love.Another cashflow market I did not see on the list is Lansing, MI which I personally think is fantastic with low property taxes, strong rental demand, low cost of living and service costs with constant economic development as a result of being the State capital.

Out of state landlords still self-manage their properties as much as they like as this agent is really just there so that the municipality feels like they can reach a real local person when there is an issue.

It really depends on the condition and if the person smoked indoors and was a heavy smoker.You are going to have to wash all of the surfaces with TSP, chances are you will need to repaint (especially if they've been there for 10 years) and may need to stain block the ceilings before painting. 

I haven't personally gone yet because they are usually during a week night around 6-7pm but hope to get to one soon!

Anyway, shadow that person as much and as often as you can so that you can learn the ins-and-outs on how to be successful.

Nick has the best Data with easy to understand graphs and charts for each City, Area of the big Cities, County, State and whole Country with ReventureApp.com and its free unless you want a personal conversation. 

carrying all that on their balance sheet is very nice. sounds like it worked out. keep that relationships that's hard to find. 

Personally, I've bought plenty of real estate courses in the past.

I don't know any personally but the Bay Area is such a huge market I'm sure you can find someone.

My best lender when I was active was a private person.