on the flip side, are there any I should stay away from regardless of how cheap a condo may be?

He otherwise would be a perfect tenant planning to stay in town for a couple of yes.

Once you feel you have a comfort level of understanding then begin but, don't be afraid of making mistakes just make sure they are manageable.

I always tell prospective clients to work with a company that offers a fair price and that you feel comfortable working with. 

However, it is usually easy to rent individual rooms this late in the year - lots of {particularly foreign} students land at campus without a place to stay.  

@Christine Mwai I actually did read through your post :)  Glad you are getting the issue resolved.Like many seasoned LLs noted on the post, I am also not comfortable letting tenants take care maintenance items that would affect property values. 

If you do decide to stay closer to Dallas also consider being an early adopter of short-term furnished rentals (i.e.

He can stay with family while he recovers, and then take care of his stuff in storage.

I gave myself $150K because I wanted nice appliances etc. so I tacted-on $20K as it would be a live-in flip for us in the smaller house while we rented out the bigger house during our stay.

I talked about this in my blog post US Cities for Turnkey InvestmentI would consider cities that have grown or stayed stable at least, to avoid pressure stock of vacant houses hanging on that rental market.