Most of our tenants are reasonable folks, and the buildings in A and B level communities have mostly routine issues (leaky drains, roofs, etc). 

There seems to be issues with covering your expenses.Taking the sec121 exclusion, which is only for primary residences, is pretty much the best living tax exemption. 

I would recommend either being more open to larger rehabs or getting your purchase price closer to the 250-300k range if looking for smaller cosmetic flips.

I want to get rid of my older ones due to being in an HOA or other issues that are not ideal.

ALL of these issues can happen locally as well for sure, but if you learn locally the lessons are generally not as expensive. 

For years we were renting it long term and never really had an. issue with turnover.

Down the road (or sooner), I'd like to get into the larger commercial residential space.

I have remotely managed a property in DC for 10+ years without major issues. 

@Jay Hinrichs  I think part of the issue is that while we might consider it entertainment, so many people see these podcasts, etc as fact. 

Yes, for a few reasons.1) local to you - you would most likely have an edge to start right where you are, since you may have better access to data and physically can go to the properties and/or meet investors in person, if need be, etc. 2) since the #'s are typically larger here (SoCal) you have the potential to make larger $'s !