What strategies have worked for you, and what should I watch out for?

Please check out this link from the AZ Court system regarding maximum temps.

Better to ask first rather than spend a lot of money and find out later..... :-)

We're reaching out to other professionals who have done some investing in Alabama or who are very familiar with the market, (i.e. which are the more favorable counties in which to invest?) 

Some lenders will average out a partial year of rental income from your tax returns if you cannot provide a lease. 

This is what I would do if starting out in real estate and wanted to buy my own home and start getting rental income and experience.

Not from Oklahoma but if you have any general wholesaling or flipping questions feel free to reach out! 

However, if the property is partially rented out, will 6 months of the full mortgage have to be saved for consideration or will 6 months of the difference between the mortgage and rental income suffice?

I have equity in my duplex that I would like to leverage, but the interest rate on the mortgage is at 2.7% so I don't want to cash out refinance (considering interest rates right now are in the 6-8% range).

Your earn it in this business and once you have some years in and your getting your business by referral like she does it does get easier at least on the marketing end she has not advertised in say 20 years all of her business just comes to her based on her quality of work with her clients. 2 years ago she was number one agent out of 600 HUNDRED agents and she does not have a team..