I've done a bazillion booths at arts presenting conferences- but never one where they didn't want a laptop or electronics.

For new lease signings (not renewals), if being signed electronically I will often do a video conference with them and review the lease in detail so that they understand it and can ask questions before signing it.

Go to some conferences, sales training etc.

We have many great small towns here in western NC where you can do well on STR, have something that's a bit less busy than eastern TN, do a little better in the winter than coastal or upper Midwest, and have enough infrastructure to get cleaning and work done.

The Inman news conferences have been great places to get outside of industry groupthink.

You can also attend conferences in person to meet other investors and explore mentorship options.My brothers and I actually found our current mentorship program here on Biggerpockets!

@Ali Saad,A good number of places in the southeastern U.S. could fit your criteria—see, for example, @Rob Howard's comment about eastern Tennessee.Montgomery also comes to mind here.

The eastern part of the city, which in some cases is fairly far from the urban city, pull down the average to ~$1m. 

Most of our tenants come through Sabbatical Homes.We have detailed walk-through videos of both of our units (and We also provide video conference calls with prospective tenants. 

But as you said, it is going to be late 2020's before the first ticket to ride is issued and it would take some deep pockets to implement a buy and hold strategy to go after high density multi-family, conference, or hotel development.