My advice - find a legit mentor that may partner with you as cohost is your first property, willing to share knowledge and you absolutely know for a fact they hv experience in the airbnb space with their own properties; gather info on internet, buy a couple of books - all the information is already out there.

@Sasha Josephs,Find your buyers first, and find out what they want to buy.

Looking at the city from an investor's perspective, @Becca F. is absolutely right, you need to make sure you're buying in the right neighborhood.

With many people's help I recently made my first buy-and-hold purchase of a duplex in Fort Wayne, as an OOS investor! 

I have credit in the high 700s, I have over 10 units, have done several refinances and buy and holds.  

They're actually hosting occasional "come and see" type events where you can go out there BEFORE you buy (and even afterwards!). 

We have physician clients that work in the suburbs that need to buy something close to their hospital in the case of bad weather or they need to be close to the hospital.

Questions: Is this just what to expect from buying rentals, and (regardless of expectations), what can/should I do?

I am focused on those out there who are raising $50M+ to buy institutional level assets but do so by managing  500+ separate investor relationships.  

I would love to buy an existing one first to get the experience, but am also open to developing from scratch.