I’ve found individual properties which *could* work in each of these cities, but don’t understand how to ultimately pick a market and get going.

The very reason you pay the title company is to handle all those details and do it correctly.The title companies I deal with get it right every time.

Individualization of mails or postcards always works.

There are plenty different owners some individuals and some LLCs in that area.

After a refi your interest exp on taxes, individually, is limited to your initial loan amount amortized/basis, in an LLC the funds need to be reinvested for a business purpose or held in the LLC to be a valid expense.

Problem is that my ideal house is expensive because they are normally attached to a large house that a single person doesn’t need.

In the future, you couldI think you should explain to the original tenant that you have a duty to protect the neighborhood you invest in, as well as yourself, and so background checks must be completed on both individuals in order for them to live there; which includes the submission of a completed application and application fee.

Many of these could have been prevented if the individual would have spent a few hundred (sometimes more) dollars on an attorney with KNOWLEDGE OF THE AREA.

I'd start with your target property and then recognize what your ideal tenant is looking for in a rental.

It all really varies on the individual and what they want.