Investing out of state is definitely a viable option (most of our clients live outside of AL), but just know that you'll need to put in extra legwork during your research and vetting stage. 

I found that investors usually go through several GC’s before finding a good fit.

I usually keep all of them.

@Lauren Speidel thank you for the extra detail.  

During the day I’m working as a carpenter all over the state of Rhode Island, which usually puts me 30-50min drive to the house.

Usually with direct real estate a person can only afford a few properties, so they have a lot of individual investment risk.

There is not much you can do because they are usually illegal.

Never a dull day :-).Mine feel boring in comparison and are usually the "someone pooped in the pool" variety :-)

HI Sam,A Heloc pro is you only pay interest when you draw upon the or having an outstanding balance but the con is that you pay interest usually based on prime + margin.

It usually helps when you show them on paper how they will usually make more money and how it can spread out their income and pay less taxes over the length of the loan.