I have a decent amount saved up and will definitely have enough reserves in case anything come up.I am leaning towards starting in Florida since they have friendlier laws for landlords but need to do more reading into what that entails and if its worth sacrificing my ability to visit the property whenever I want.What areas in Florida and NY do you think I should focus my research in?

I visited that branch and spoke to Luis and he was great.

If there is an appreciable amount of time left on the lease that prorate should have been credited to you.Review your closing documents--it's possible you may have gotten the credit under a heading you wouldn't have expected.

Taking taxes into account when purchasing a building is also so important to find tax savings or like you're saying - plan ahead to avoid any surprise tax expenses.

Could also be a visiting poopetrator but that is specifically not allowed on my lease either and they would need to have it boarded.  

@Matthew GillSounds familiar, only about four years ahead of you.

There is a lot to be said about being able to visit your property quickly on your first one.

Otherwise you will have to evict (or move in and be their room mate, or just go ahead and start your remodeling project with them living there, lol).

@Brian DanoYou have to be careful when visiting places like H&R Block, Liberty, etc as they are run as a 'franchise' and normally owned by a CPA or EA who hire those with little experience to help prepare tax returns.You can check out the craigslist hiring section and you will see ads for H&R block hiring and mentioning 'no experience needed'.Below are some tips to find a Local CPA that specializes in real estate1) Attend a Local REIA / Real Estate meetup and see who other investors are using as a CPA2) Network with other investors from your City/State that you find on bigger pockets and see who they use as a CPA3) Look for CPA's with good google/yelp reviews where 'real estate' is mentioned in the review.

I went ahead a got couple of quotes for the repair.