Select the distance and several groups will pop up in your area. 

some of the books you mention are great but are big picture idea books, and you may be thinking ...how do I select a place, inspect, buy and rent it (advertise, screen and select tenants, maintain it, etc).

I would say just look into your game plan.Whether to keep it as a rental or not would depends if its a cash-flowing asset.

If going this route, it's mostly a numbers game.

Lowes has the best flooring and tile selection.  

CL was the only real game in town for a long time, but the usability has always been pretty crappy (the previously-mentioned flood of listings for a single apartment, lack of ability to search in more specific areas, etc.) 

It is a numbers game and you have to play it often to find that one deal out of 50 that will be an equity packed transaction.You need to find an agent that can trust that you are not just using them. 

Its all about YOUR risk vs. reward tolerance, and personal goals.I personally would say unless you have already amassed some equity and cash reserves sell now and go  do the same thing again then you will have $70k then again and have  $105k and so on...keep doing what you know how to do until you have enough cash reserves to get into the long term buy and hold game and can afford to weather any storm that may come along.Good luck.

I have been dabbling in real estate since 2004 and I am ready to up my game!

I've made my fair share of costly mistakes, which fortunately has led to my success and perfection of a system that work for me (and others).If you do your due diligence, and select a good market or two, then there won't be any "cons".