The problem is it's a very economically depressed area.

glad to hear of the deal.

I intend to relocate to the Rapid City, SD region in April/May for work, and I plan to acquire a primary residence that could eventually be transformed into an investment property.

For starters, the prospect passes our 3.5x income requirement, has a 700+ credit score but a few things that I seem to have trouble with is the management company that was on the application, I wasn't able to find any viable information through regular web searches, but through the Business public record I found an LLC to this management company which I found was created 5 months ago. 

He does a lot of BRRRR, flip, and hold between Pittsburgh and West Virginia and will surely know the Pittsburgh markets you are considering.

For example, the local government rental inspection walks through and finds no issues.  

I tried to get a HELOC on my rental property, but the bank denied me for a low loan-to-value on the property.

Keep in mind the numbers don't always tell the whole story.

My wife, Shelbie, and I have been researching about REI for the past 1 year.

@Muhammad Kashif to avoid interest related transactions:1) Buy & hold rentals - you make your money back via rental payments.2) Funding flip deals - instead of lending at an interest rate, you could lend for a percentage of the profits on the sale.