I gravitate towards "red states" given the landlord-friendly laws and relative ease of evictions, which unfortunately are unavoidable in the buy and hold game.

Take your flip profits in CA, and buy with those profits for CF in the Midwest. 

But yes, I would find the houses, submit, get an offer from them with a signed PASA, take the loan through them, and after reno was complete, they would buy the house.   

Swann is a large company and are likely easy to find at Best Buy, etc.

Your home equity you currently have will count as an asset on the CSS Profile, but not on the FAFSA - unless you've taken a HELOC to buy the other property.

I'm going to buy my first property within the next couple of months and I'm curious about how people manage their properties when they are not within a driveable distance of them.I understand they have property managers but where do you find them?

good area to buy. would love to discuss if you are looking for financing options

I spent months, no, years, reading books, buying No Money Down cassettes, (Carleton Sheets, anyone?)

If you are buying from HUD, you will be contractually obligated to occupy the home for 12 months.

but you will have appreciation and equity paydown, but so would any property you buy with financing.