Your local apartment owner association is a great resource for best practices for management and screening tenants.

My husband has been a realtor for over 30 years and we were always very active locally with investment properties. 

My local sherrif has a policy for vacant homes that you can register the address of a vacant home and give them permission to enter at any time with out a warrant. 

While most of the investors I work with are local, I have met a lot of out-of-state investors buying in Arizona too. 

Lots of great locals/agents here that can give you Cali specific info. 

Networking led to the opportunity, as the previous owner reached out to me through our local REIA.

Have you tried any possible local BiggerPockets community meet ups in your area?

But make sure to do more research, connect with local agents that know the market, connect with investors who own rental properties in that market, and then decide if that's going to be your main stomping ground. 

Connect with other local investors like me to network with and do deals

Charlotte region, the real estate market experienced a slight dip in new listings by 2.4 percent, bringing the total to 4,805. Meanwhile, pending sales decreased by a modest 0.3 percent, settling at 4,196. However, th...