I studied dozens of lease agreements from around the country and then picked the bits and pieces that fit my management style, state law, and what I felt was important.

Read "Long Distance Real Estate Investing" by David Greene in the bookstore.Start looking at markets around the country.

It's kind of like presidential polls, they don't call every eligible voter in the U.S. and ask them their opinion, they call 1,009 voters around the country to take a "sample".

This is why squatters are wreaking havoc around the country by occupying vacant properties.Am I wrong?

I may not like your ability to restrict tenants from legally owning guns, but I also don't like the continued erosion of property owners rights in parts of our country (the Costa-Hawkins drama in CA is a good example).

@Ray Harrell the entire Scranton/Wilkes Barre valley is old coal country. 

All the areas are expensive relative to the rest of the country, but those non-red areas are extra expensive.

If you live in an area where you get a fair amount of consecutive days without rain, but fairly mild weather (like now in much of the country) you can take your time and do it yourself.

Atlanta is the #1 market in the country for student housing see below.

Why the obsession with cap rates, unless you can predict the future (and so many wiser and more experienced investors than ourselves have tried and failed so many times over...)Personally, I vowed I'd do my darn best to try and not to fall into the same trap those walking a foot in front of me have just crashed into (as an individual or institutional investor, at least - and would like to hope entire countries would be able to follow the same reasoning process) - I ignore cap rates altogether, to be honest.