Anyways, your best bet is to find precedent in your target area, or close to it, and see if you can get in contact with them to see what they went through. 

I'd want someone to have my back.Second, if I were to "forget" to mention those kinds of things, my reputation would be in the toilet as fast as you can say "Yelp".I'd bet most good agents would do exactly the same thing. 

Best bet: connect with local investors/lenders/brokers to narrow your focus (what type of asset, what sub-market of the metroplex).

We are from out of state, so our agent will need to be actively involved in our due diligence process.  

If you take SD, you dont itemize, but the expense related to rental activity has nothing to do with itemize deduction.Your rental income is taxed if you have net rental income. ( Rents- expenses- depreciation). 

The area is growing and I anticipate rents going up as well as house prices, i don't want to bet on this but it does give me some comfort that equity will increase over the next few years.  

Plenty of activity in South Shore today. 

I would bet that the owner works more than 20 hours a week.  

@Barbara Hlavaty I think first of all, you have to figure out for yourself whether you want to be active with this next investment or passive?!

For example, while you could use such accounts to purchase real estate, you could not transfer any real estate that is owned by yourself, spouse, parents, children into the tax-advantaged account.There are also some instances in which such accounts can be taxed, such as when investing in an active business or when using leverage.For a list of companies compiled by BiggerPockets, see: Self-Directed CompaniesFor more compliance and strategy, see: The Self-Directed Investor