There was several podcasts featuring military members and teh challenges of out of state land-lording, and I believe @Brandon Turner did a webinar that featured REI while being Active Duty Military .  

Also, your featured article was a nice read.

-  All the information you want/need is on the site -- you seem to rather ask an open-ended question to try to get people to regurgitate information that is readily available by using the search feature hereMy recommendation is to spend a few weeks/months reading this site, getting familiar with the basics and putting together a plan. 

@Howard Krieger welcome, use the search feature as this question has been answered a number of times.

What are these new PRO features up the sleeves.... ?

@Ben Backman, analyze several properties using the tools on this sight, listen to several podcasts featuring multi-family properties, post a forum question to lenders in the financing section.  

You could certainly move the due date up.Cozy does offer a feature for like $2 that speeds up the process.

It has some features that may be able to help you make your case to potential lenders.

Verifying the actual rent value is essential since they vary significantly depending on area, amenities, size, features, etc.  

I usually look on the map to find the sales that are in the same neighborhood and have the same features (brick built vs stick built, year built etc).