You’ll be better served by and hit less bumps with someone with experience and this applies to all aspects and all of your vendors.

Article from HousingWire:The National Association of Realtors drew a line in the sand between homebuyers and investors, but one investor says he’s had enough.NAR made its stance on investors clear on several occasions: Investors are creating more competition for first-time homebuyers, possibly even keeping them from homeownership.Back in January, the initial public offering for Blackstone Group’s single-family rental operator, Invitation Homes, became one step closer to reality, as the company disclosed the terms of its initial public offering.What was unusual about this deal was the fact that it happened with the backing of mortgage giant Fannie Mae, as noted in the Wall Street Journal.NAR did not wait long to criticize the GSE, sending a letter to Mel Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, according to an article by Lorraine Woellert for POLITICO.

The most known aspect of veterans and real estate is their ability to purchase a home using a VA home loan. 

We are partnering with an experienced investor who's assisting us in every aspect of the process and recently met an experienced HML who is also going above and beyond to help analyze the deals presented to ensure our first flip is successful for all involved. 

Now, as someone that has invested out of state for many years the most critical piece of the equation to me is where is your trusted network of advisors?

Know how to take constructive criticism.

Maintaining discipline can be hard, but is critical to building a durable track record as a strong investor.

I am open to hear other peoples great suggestions and or criticisms. 

While reading the book helps: Experienced contractors local to an area know a lot more about what's ininvolved on a rehab and can estimate much more accurately than just going off a book. experience is key in that aspect. 

Seems wickedly competitive but worthwhile for a few aspects.