Texas is particulary hard on out of state landlords... .SUPER HIGH tax's and foundation issues... you may want to look in markets that have lower tax and more stable ground.

*IF you have a trusted - meaning a disinterested solid friend/family member - local to the project, that has any competence whatsoever in common sense, you may want to consider paying him/her a representative's fee to be your "eyes on the ground" for the project.

They want to see nothing has materially changed from property tax and other records when they evaluate a property.For commercial a separate phase one environmental and pcr (property condition report) is performed.

., and a Real Estate Investment Brokerage in case you ever decide to sell.By teaming up with a solid firm you can mitigate your risk and have some "boots on the ground" that have your best interest in mind. 

Right now in phase of researching areas.One of my research area is Wilmington DE , because of lower entry cost and taxes.It seems like one can also find deals in 20K's in area while rent is around $600-$800.Is there any specific areas that is good or bad for rental properties?

Speaking from the SF-Bay Area POV, and having ridden a few market ups and downs (more and much bigger ups than downs, which helps a lot btw ;) here are my thoughts:1- in your primary building up phase you inevitably need to be value added/hands on and use leverage, or have a strong source of income to create your RE investments.

Fill some balloons with mace and have your HVAC guy put them inside the unit after he repairs :-).On a more serious note, I'd suggest a cage or relocating it to 8ft+ off the ground.

If they tell me to piss off, would I typically have grounds to either force them to fix the problem and/or compensate me for it?

Of course you have to do a lot more due diligence in terms of the team in the boots on the ground that you have but I believe that with a little bit of work in finding the right team you can make way better returns than a property here in Los Angeles.

Paying the bills is one thing but having capable eyes and ears on the ground can make the difference in the value of your property.