For example many of them only allow a 6-7 day rental minimum, requires the owners primary residence or management company to be 25-30 miles from the property and permitting etc.

I am in southeast Michigan and am searching for properties here, but also considering out of state (likely Texas) for MTR's

Some iconic "LA" areas like Beverly Hills, Malibu and Compton aren't technically Los Angeles at all (but Long Beach is --connected only by a two block wide stretch of land that is 5 miles long).A later post by the OP noted that the value of the lot was "at least" $100k.

You could do a second home conventional, but the property would have to be 50 miles away from the first home I am pretty sure which requires at least 10 percent down and cash or assets in reserves for 2 or12 months depending on dti and credit score. 

For me that eliminates me having to be a landlord from 1000+ miles away and I don't have to manage contractors, because that is honestly one of my least favorite activities ever. 

It was located about 6 miles out from a middle size city (central Indiana).

We have focused on an area 1,000 miles away but have family in the area and one is our on the ground handyman and issue addesser (is that a word??). 

Looking at buying a 4-unit property in SouthEast Iowa but the only property management company I found there (Arista Appraisals) Isn't accepting new business right now.

We have five single family homes as rentals 5500 miles away and run everything through a highly reputable management agency.

Account Closed What really helped me to get started was belief in REI as a true way to build wealth, I then began to build a solid team around me all while analyzing a ton of properties, and speaking to anyone who had experience with REI all of this helped to give me the feeling I was heading in the right direction, after that I dove right in, they say a journey of a million miles starts with one step, so I decided to push forward.You'll have a ton of emotions as you go through the process of building your portfolio and that's ok, each offer, purchase, reno etc has its own set of challenges but it gets a bit easier as you go.