Location, location, location...make sure you are in a safer neighborhood that would attract good tenants...this above all can make or break a property IMO

Plus, an up and coming area here is a hell of a lot safer than other gentrifying areas of the country.

I think a lot of investors are drawn to real estate as a safer and less volatile place to park their money than other markets. 

   #2 - question- what are some innovative safer paths to hire reputable contractors and weed out the flakers unreliable ones?

Your best bet would be to talk to a securities attorney.

If they're paying at the top of the market you can bet they are looking around at all the cheaper places they could move to as soon as their lease is up.

I bet they typically move families in and out of town all the time...?

I bet you get some screaming deals in Alabama Rolanda. 

I posted here about how my wife and I have been agonizing over buying a condo for ourselves in Southwest Fla for years: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/530/topics/32...We are close to talking ourselves out of it, mainly because we won't be able to use it that much over the next 3-4 years because our daughter is still in high school, and then we have plans to travel more and more of the world (vs hanging out in our condo) as we feel safer leaving darling daughter to her own devices. 

If your neighbors work for nurseries, have yappy or mean dogs, erect two fences around their property, are livid when PGE goes in and places Smart meters on their electrical box, have motion detector lights on their house and locked access on all parameter gates you can bet its a grow house.