They had nothing but disdain for their landlord, who they said was the most useless flake ever, and only ever came by to camp out in the basements with his kids and occasionally sail.

I am in the process of selling a seattle duplex I own and the proceeds from that will be used to reinvest in a larger multifamily property in a secondary market in the greater puget sound area;  I want to get out of seattle market in the long term,   but I'm pretty established now with negligible debt and market-ish rates so I can weather some more bureaucracy and occasional losses from having to comply with some of this stuff if I have to.Even though we are seeing landlord/tenant "reform" at the state level now and I'm guessing will likely see a statewide rent control bill similar to oregons next session I would prefer to invest locally so I can visit my assets on a fairly regular basis,  even if it takes a couple hours instead of 15 minutes to drive there thats way better than cross country for me.     

In the beginning, that's what I did and occasionally still buy without benefit of title. 

Ski train from Denver and less time on I-70 is enticing for those living in Denver.Vail is too expensive for a solid ROI, however, opportunity occasionally presents itself in/around Beaver Creek or other Eagle County neighborhoods, but one would be looking at (speculating on) appreciation to balance a lower ROI here.

I am assuming you will get to the area occasionally, BTW. 

I may occasionally purchase a fixer-upper or quick sale if it supports this goal (ie, raise capital to purchase another long-term rental), but that is not my primary aim.My RE specific goals are:-Do 3 deals by the time I am 30. (1 down, pursuing #2).

Occasionally you will see folks write a mortgage and promissory note but, most seller financed our done on land contract here.

Do you do occasional inspections to make sure everything is in reasonable order?

Be stern if you must because as a newbie I will have occasional tunnel vision and stubbornness to get the deal done no matter what.

The list has not been tested, although, I do occasionally research what is going on around my area by using the Internet to see what transactions have recently occured.