If they're a good broker they put me into their mailing list and start sending me any new listings they have.

Start with BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginners Guide (free).

We’ve been finding more and more tenants just taking them out when the battery starts to die and they’re chirping.

I was just wondering if buying properties and rehabbing them would be a good way to transition into becoming a residential developer eventually?

Trimming it every year was expensive and it always looked terrible after the trim until 2-3 months later when it had started growing in.

If you just hire the cheapest or first PMC you speak with and it turns into a bad experience, please don’t assume ALL PMC’s are bad and start trashing PMC’s in general.

Understanding this, there are three reasons why single family investors fail to maximize the potential utilizing the  SFH investment strategy: (1) This investor buy SFH's singularly focused on cash flow and ignore the fundamentals that are strong indicators of market appreciation and the transition event to higher home ownership.

Schools in the area are all right, not the best but good enough.Is the rental market strong in this area?

You have to start somewhere.   

Start investing in cash flowing properties, like duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes.Thanks,Dustin