I would of course be out often to visit family and check up on things, but concerned with the distance...Any experience renting out of your market?

They broke in and took back their furniture.Tom Goans - all I can say is wow - but I thought you were some kind of "tenant whisperer":https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/81/topics/91898-tenant-and-borrower-screening

My husband and I move often because of the military.

But I do often have groups of special needs students come through my business where we help them practice skills to get full time jobs down the road.

David BeardI agree w/ what david said about the important role of HML in this market place- the numbers often work for our investors.

Jon Holdman, I agree that wholesaling is not real estate investing, but it is often referred to as investing.

That being said, you can weed out a number of tenants with a simple, organized screening process before they ever get to the application stage - this goes a long, long way towards minimizing the amount of work you have to do.As far as explaining the costs, you just have to tell your applicants what you said yourself - there are expenses involved in screening.

Often your investment play in those areas will be for appreciation.

Good point Oren Karp however your premise that the "purchase will cause the property taxes to go down" is just not a reality here....Often after buying @ a tax lien auction we rehab & the assessmentgoes up considerably.

In my area often times you can put in a high grade window and get no financial credit for it.