Stay in dallas area and would like to start getting involved, meeting new people and learning more.

We will be driving there and staying at a VRBO condo with our two small kids.

Stay away from the big REIA as they are mostly sales pitches and not much good info.I'm not sure what your level of experience is as a handyman but as a former contractor turned investor I will tell you that renovating and flipping are not the same thing.

@Sam Rogers Welcome BP Stay around and start exchanging with people here.

I am pretty sure that they stay full.

I told them I've already got a new tenant lined up and they can't stay.

If you owned that house so that friends and family had a place to stay that is not productive use in business investment or trade and would not qualify for 1031. 

I spent months driving around Baltimore to really know and understand each area and neighborhood (I marked in a paper map what blocks do I like and which ones to stay away from each area I liked) and networking with local investors to really get a grasp of the city. 

Tenants will often fight to stay in a space they know is a great value that is hard to find elsewhere.

It is much worse, imo, when there is a water leak and everything around stay wet for long time.