Bite the bullet and get yourself new speed queen machines with a strong warranty. 

When I was in college, students would always complain about Wifi speed/service if it was included in their rent.

If you already have the money for a down payment and have good personal finance habits, then you can probably get up to speed in two months by reading this guide:https://www.biggerpockets.com/real-estate-investingand these two books:https://www.biggerpockets.com/store/rental-property-investing-ultimatehttps://www.biggerpockets.com/store/long-distance-real-estate-investing-ultimateAlso listen to the first 20-30 Bigger Pockets Podcast episodes, after that they just get really in depth with various strategies and investors that probably won't be helpful for newbies like us.

Google finds specific text in the transcripts very proficiently as one would expect.Now I'm re-listening to the pre-257 shows on 2x speed to try to find it. 

I saw a property pop up in Memphis that peaked my interest.  

Spring is typically the peak of the residential real estate market, so if you can buy in the winter you can usually get a better price and have less competition. 

So I just took a peak at the data and it seems you are correct.

Set up a planning meeting with Pikes Peak Building, they will let you know what is allowed. 

For speed, setup your own simple spreadsheet in MS Excel. 

I did have one house (my first) I bought in 98 for $180k hit $500k at the peak and then drop back to about $220K and now it’s back to around $500k.