A good property manager, which you will likely use being from out of state, will help you determine the best tenants for the property you choose. 

One of the reasons that we choose to do real estate in our retirement accounts is because that is where 80%+ of each of our assets ALREADY were sitting, so we each did 'roll overs'.

What strategy you choose will depend on your 1 to 5 year plan for your new career in real estate investing. 

It's more important to choose an investment that you are interested in and then find a great mentor (Lucas and Avery Carl for us!) 

@RuQuaiyah Jones I would choose where I would want to live instead of deciding which market you’d rather invest in.

I always advocate working local first or at least watching local so that if you choose to go out of the area, you understand what is going to happen.

Best of luck whichever way you choose.

While we aren’t likely to choose house hacking personally, is that route still a possibility, via bank lending, if we are co-owners with our son and his new wife as he goes to grad school, in essence using our credit and resources but benefiting from them living in one of the units, thus accessing owner occupied rates?

Any input on choosing a management company would be greatly appreciated. 

Before I was able to choose other actions and now I dont see that option.