Front face clean, side face dirty stinky and smelly, just like me!

He has a good face to trust!

I’m facing the same issue.

You should look into attending a career expo and talking face to face with some brokerage reps and get a feel for how they do business.I work with West USA Realty and think they're great, but I'm sure anyone else would say the same thing about their brokerage so I'd take such recommendations with a grain of salt.You'd probably want to know their policies on handling your own transactions.

It was given freely and I had never met them face to face.

As far as actually getting the work done, there probably needs to be a face to face meeting at the property reviewing the condition.  

Now it's barely a blip on the radar when a few units get deployed.Atleast 50% of applicants the last time i had a vacant rental (July) were from Nashville looking to escape the rising rents, which is keeping rental rates healthy hereYou can find rentals at/above the 1% rent rule all day longCreative financing is alive and well here as it's more of a buyer's marketGood luck to ya!

How I like to view things is from the different levels of financial independence:- cash to cover spartan level expenses  like some have mentioned or just bare sustenance  (food, shelter, medical insurance)- cash flow to cover all basic bills (prior plus utilities, cell bills, others)- cash flow to all basis lifestyle and min reserve tucked away as well each month (min reserve, subsequent levels can bank more reserves)- cash flow to cover all basic, additional reserves and growth of future lifestyle increases- cash flow to cover additional lifestyle, reserves, and additional margin to grow other areas of life style, hobbies, and investments well (self funding deals, self fund rehabs, and other activities)At the last level and subsequent higher levels from here and on you can self fund from cash flow alone and "job," not is never needed again but depending on your personal preferences for lifestyle and risk you may work forever to stay busy or may quit the job at steps 2-3.I enjoy what I do as a lender so perhaps I just lower my production down to 2-4 loans a month and just help my past clients and referral partners.

I'm barely stepping foot into real estate but I'm reading into a lot and listening to anyone who has any advice for me.

I'll second @Chad Lopes regarding hiring a PM, since managing a rental from another state can be tricky for even experienced investors.I wrote a post a while back about the zip codes we like for our B/B+ (and sometimes A if we can score a deal) investments, so perhaps that would be helpful to you:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/22…As with most markets, Bham can change block to block, so it behooves you to visit the market and meet the people you'd be working with (whether turnkey or a self-assembled team of agent, contractor, PM etc) face to face.