I work regularly in Atlanta and am not opposed to investing there as well.  

Cars are regularly broken into. 

If you're looking to buy a three-bedroom home and rent out two bedrooms, a condo might be the better option because the home will be more affordable and, despite the HOA fees, you don't have regular homeowners' insurance to pay, capex to save, or much maintenance to worry about.If you do pursue a condo, though, be sure to read the HOA rules diligently while in escrow.

One of the requirements to receive your commission as a non-resident is that you regularly do business in VA.

Not only do they have a lot of great benefits just for joining (free landlord forms, legal advice, webinars, etc), but they'll send you regular updates on all the pending legislation that affect us landlords (like this one) and they help lobby against (and defeat) the ones that hurt us.  

Don't buy a property that is regularly flooded.

I completely agree with @Jared Prevost about making sure to have financing lined up and don't be afraid to close a small deal that isn't perfect in order to show brokers you are serious.Another piece of advice, once you have found a broker you like working with that is regularly sending you deals be sure to keep them in the loop on your opinions about what they are sending you.

And just as the Gov't protects the banks from robbery, they protect them from RE investors (right or wrong that';s the way it is).So this makes you a target.They are not bowing at your feet because, at least in CA, for every short sale you buy, there are 10 regular buyers bidding on that same property - just not with cash.

If we didn't have people flipping/rehabbing right now what would happen- well you'd have two sets of houses on the market- Distressed houses- either by sellers or banks that majority need repairs and majority of short sales have people who either will not or cannot make the repairs needed to get financing Then you have regular sales that probably needs repairs-sometimes not but how many regular homeowners are making the same amount of repairs as they did years ago?

I've had almost all positive experiences and try to attend regularly now.