I've purchased two properties personally utilizing seller financing and represented at least a handful of buyers acquire properties with private mortgages over the past five years including friends and family members.

Tennessee doesn’t have personal income tax but if we create an LLC we would have to pay state income tax.

Ultimately, the best market for investing under $250k will depend on factors like your risk tolerance, investment goals, and personal preferences.

While I am a licensed agent but I do not focus on MLS deals.I've been personally investing in Detroit since 2019 and have 12-doors there now.

I encourage others to DIY.

If you can't keep control of your personal finances, you are highly unlikely to succeed in real estate investing.

You have to get the person face to face.Creative deals are negotiated. 

It all depends, this is why I always review potential client's books what is the best course of action.I personally do not like QBO for real estate (I make it clear in all my posts lol) I just renewed my certification just because most people can't afford the PM software with accounting such as AppFolio and Yardi.

Quote from @Russell Brazil: In the future, do a court records search at https://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/casesearch/If you had done that, you would have seen they have 8 failure to pay rent cases against them.I am curious Who did the initial check on this person?

If you get a bad tenant, the rest of your tenants have to live with this person until you can successfully evict them.