I blogged about it recentlyHave I Found the Holy Grail of Passive Real Estate Investing? 

Any blogs, forums,  or podcast that I can review? 

I use my blog and a meetup event I host to do that.

Here is a link to a good blog post to read about interviewing VR management companies: http://www.thepinkflamingo.info/10-questions-you-m...Good luck! 

This advice is based on the numerous hours of research that I've done on the subject to include BP forum conversations, offsite CPA and attorney blogs, etc etc. 

Listened to Natali on a tech podcast and have been following her blog.

We hope your day can continue to go in the right direction towards REI networking, but having the BiggerPockets Blog down probably isn't much help, is it?

You will find resources here from blogs to pod casts and forums.

Living modestly you could buy another one in a year or two!

Anyway to get to your questions: 1) Got started with the vacation homes, love this niche and will stay here. 2) Bought in the area because of family who are a second line of defense to my contractors. 3) Yep, we knew Portland pretty well, but only the highlights, there are still a number of emerging neighborhoods and markets here. 4) Learning about the area - I forced myself to do a Blog on my web site for the vacation rental which helped me learn more, I also subscribes to the local magazines and small community newspapers, they give me a wierd look when I tell them my adress, but hey, it is a GREAT source of info. 5) Relied on family who knew the area and my RE broker, he is fantastic. 6) The lessons learned - know ALL the expenses up front, that 10% for maintenance you do not think you need to budget, you do, I know.