But I will tell you that there are some very nice areas of Durham with an easy commute to Raleigh and more affordable prices.

If not I would want to hire a real GC (If I am doing this at a distance) and just have this guy go and check in on the project to make sure nothing fishy is going on.  

That way I can watch from a distance.

I would make a smaller focus whether that is distance from you, types of tenants you are after, class of properties, etc.

Our neighbor was military and rented because he was on a 2-3 year assignment and Columbia was an easy 20 minute commute, but he was in the minority.

I'm in an online group, and an out of town investor gave me a lead in my area, because of the distance for him.

Well, we quickly realized that our cash flow for the first 18 month would go entirely just to repair the current issues, let alone things that would come up later.Luckily, I can easily commute to Milwaukee and NW Indiana and do my own due diligence.  

Maybe other areas too that are commutable to oracle (if you go into peninsula.)  

Podcasts are my main method of listening to new music, the news, educational/informational stuff, and makes my 1.5-2 hour daily commute feel a bit more worthwhile.When I was in high school, my stepmom (then Real Estate Agent) was doing a lot of BPOs (Broker Price Opinions), and I helped her out by driving around Southern California taking pictures of properties, then bringing them home to her.

@Michael Stroup It sounds like this particular contractor knew you were a long distance landlord and in a time sensitive spot given the AC was for an elderly couple & might have taken a little advantage of that with the price they charged.All you can do now is learn for the next time I guess and take note of this contractor to never use them again.In the end if the tenants pay on time and only call when legit problems arise you will do fine in the long run.