You need to hire someone your comfortable with.

Most people don't think this way and only find comfort in a monthly number, even if it is lower.If all goes well you should have a down payment saved up to purchase shortly. 

I would recommend utilizing social media to your advantage - there are a lot of groups, particularly on Facebook, that are Indianapolis-focused that allow you to narrow in on the real estate investing market and get connected to wholesalers, lenders, and other real estate professionals quickly.I'd set up an email you feel comfortable providing publicly for wholesalers in particular - vet those you work with and be careful of daisy-chained deals. 

Then call brokers, pm, contractors and build a list of people so you can feel more comfortable.

We specifically look for well-built, comfortable old SFR in our target neighborhoods. 

Your responses provide me a lot of comfort and it seems like everyone agrees on the next step(s), which puts me at ease.

Do your due diligence and work with your real estate agent to get comps. as long as the numbers make sense and you are getting a cash flow that you are comfortable with, it should be a good investment. 

Assuming a reasonable insurance payment for a family of 4 (say less than $1k, which is what passes as reasonable in the US), are you comfortable living on $10k annual?

Initially, you may want to make this “$0” until you are comfortable with your PM, and also layout the preferred method of communication – I suggest written so there is a paper trail.

It definitely takes a little longer to try and get comfortable with the feel of a market in my experience than simply knowing your city you live in.