Just last week, I purchased a list of absentee owners from List Source and started mailing out yellow letters.Today, I heard back from a seller and I am scheduled to go out tomorrow to look at the house (YAY.  

I did call them to ask questions, and one thing I did not really like, was the fact thatthey said they will not guarantee funding, and that is fine however they do not have any preferred funding sources that they would assist us with.

The properties I used to have 10 years ago were poorly rehabbed and it yielded a constant source of headaches that created a hole in my checkbook that dripped thousands of dollars a month in repairs.

Agents seem to know people, that know people and they root out the deals that are not listed, or listed locally and not nationally. 

Also, Verify your rental amount to be safe with rentometer.com or some other similar source.  

The area must have a median school rating of 5 or above from at least 2 reliable school rating sources.

An understanding of how to structure the deal to maximize a source of low-cost financing like debt, EB-5 loans, etc.  4.  

You're realtor is obviously not licensed in DC and his research comes from magazine tabloids from the grocery store because that is the only source I could imagine would offer that bunk.

Which I am happy to say has started to take root before I ever asked my first question, thanks to the article I read on Mobile Home Investing. 

http://www.meetup.com/AtlantaREIA/  This is a good source to find many of the REIA events as mentioned above.