Ken Dunn, excellent information, I was told by a roofer that he would absorb my deductible cost, well never heard back from him after he spoke with my insurer! 

For Non-Disclosure states, like Texas, it doesn't necessarily always show what a property last sold for, but if you go to the "Comparables & Nearby Listings" tab, they usually are pretty good about having some comps...at least in Texas...not sure about other states...and in some counties you need to click the "Both" for the Data Set bar, if the default selection of "Public Records" isnt' really bringing up anything. 

The whole idea of it is pretty much a way for a select few politicians to get more votes from uneducated voters.

House hacking is an excellent way to start.

As long as the numbers work, investing out of state where you have family is excellent.

I pre screen and only do background credit once I have selected them as the tenant.

Sounds like a big project so if you want to be above board, you need workers comp insurance, payroll taxes, and ensure you follow the rules/laws.For accounting purposes, I love Quickbooks but a simple excel spreadsheet can work just fine too.

The LL/tenant laws may be crazy but if you only select mature, responsible tenants you should be OK.

Of course, keep in mind that there are costs to fixing up the property, costs to travel to view the property, and when you refinance your monthly mortgage payment will go up a little bit due to the higher loan amount, but overall this strategy is an excellent one. 

We have about $15,000 saved up at this point and both have "Excellent" credit (785 for my wife, and over 800 for myself).