@Diego Alvarado, thank you for the honest and practical insight.

Networking with people who already have experience can give you practical insights, tips, and even potential mentorship as you start your journey.

I can’t tell you which path to take, but here are a few ways to think about it:College can make sense if it’s affordable and gives you practical skills, a strong network, or a solid fallback career (finance, construction management, business, engineering).

It is standard practice and component level depreciation is encouraged by the IRS.Though it is very important to track you time as you go along.

That's why I was hoping I could start, establish a client base and not violate any laws regarding licensing before taking the next step.Can you tell me more how that would work in practice? 

As someone working in property management here in Northern KY and Cincinnati, I know how critical transparency and regular communication are, especially for out-of-state owners.The verification systems you mentioned - photos, videos, timestamps - should really be standard practice, not the exception.

I bring a practical, investor‑minded approach to every property I manage.

Since you’re managing remotely and just need documentation, you have a few practical options that usually work well.A local home inspector is often the cleanest solution for a one-time walkthrough.

If you’re going to accept a co-signer, the key is making sure their obligation is clean, enforceable, and not limited.A few best practices that have worked well for us:Use a separate Co-Signer / Guaranty Agreement.Don’t just list them on the lease as a “co-signer” without clarity.

The rest of the expenses aren't terrible all things considered, but they could be better.Cook County just balanced the commercial property shortfall (empty downtown high-rises) on the backs of homeowners and multi-family by doubling their property taxes in many neighborhoods, which is what I consider to be the longer term risk of investing in this area.Again, not looking to acquire this one, just ran the numbers as practice and want to make sure I'm running the numbers right.