Urban Institute Research - Errs on the policy side, but some very interesting reads and long-term trend articles.Like Wall Street Journal, but the REI focus is very institutional, and tends to have more bearing on my stock / REIT portfolio than any physical investments.

Before spending any significant time on physical due diligence, does the deal make sense from a financial standpoint?

These are physical spaces where people have to go somewhere and drop money.

Desirability - school quality/proximity to expressways or commuter trainAnd finally....what has your market supported in recent comparable sale prices within the past 6 months.  

Not only do I sometimes wonder if they're estimates for the same project, I wonder if they've even physically walked the project!

@Michael Otis Some words of caution -- the deal might be smoking hot, but 17 units and the proximity to a "sketchy" part of town are all warning signs for a first-time investor.

Is it necessary to be physically local to the county vs. out of state?

Currently I am 28 and in graduate school (physical therapy, graduate in May 2017), and am taking this time to learn as much as I can to prep for a future in real estate investment.Ultimately I see real estate as an excellent augment to my full time job, and one that will eventually take over as my full time job.

Transparency is established through sophisticated systems begging with conducing 3rd party home inspections to live private access of the financial and physical condition of the asset.This is a good starting point, please feel free to PM me for more details and information.

The judge can then require the tenant to either pay the rent or move out immediately and if they don't do either, then you can get a marshall to come to their house within 3 days and physically make them move.