I was a week away from closing on a great place in Decatur city limits near downtown, but I couldn't get the HOA lady to communicate with us before we purchased, which was a bad sign and I walked.

You can live in a great area for investment and still invest far from home if you want to leverage others.As far as where to pick, we use sites like Census.gov, Bestplaces.com, deptofnumbers.com to compile some data on quality cities. 

“Is it a bad idea...?”

If it's a bad deal, then yes, I could see a need for all the fluff to convince a green investor to buy it. 

If you are patient, the buy and hold strategy works in good or bad times.

Renovation is about 1k more then I had anticipated (which isn't bad).

We have to install filtration equipment when redeveloping a property, but not when purchasing to continue an existing use.

Your results aren't bad for only sending 200-300 per month.

Today is bad, please reach out tomorrow if possible.

One bad tenant or an unexpected roof leak can decimate your return.2) The biggest determinate of an investment's success is property manager (also referred to as operator).