Hi I have approximately 8 years left to retirement I will be 44 years old when I can start pulling my pension from my law enforcement job.

Although I am not ready to pull the trigger and purchase right now, I have been looking into both of these markets and would love to connect with an experienced realtor who has lived and worked in the area for quite a while who would be a great resource and eventually my realtor and the first of my team.I will be planning my first trip out there within the next 6 months so I would love to connect with someone who would be willing to meet me and show me the opportunities out there.For the meantime I just would like to establish contact with them for more insight on my goals and if they believe that I can find what I am looking for.

Yeah, going out for coffee is so cliche...you need to take people to honky tonks with gravel parking lots and super crews and test their reaction when a pit pull comes running up upon entry...only the best real estate investors can cut it...right @Benjamin Portnoy?

They are pulling the floor lower in two corners and when you look at the outside, they have a noticeable lean.

The way I look at it is there are some big advantages to being a contractor, the biggest of which for my area would be the ability to pull permits on anything you don't owner occupy (my understanding is TN is a lot less strict on things than MN). 

They could expect to be able to pull out a maximum of 70-80% LTV of the appraised value in its current state.

You don't need extraordinary talent or a super high IQ to pull it off (though I am sure you have both). 

I don't know where your particular property is in Kansas, but small towns are fine IF one of these things is happening:1)  You're close enough to a major city where they're pulling your values up with them. 

My last deal I did in 2017. triplex I bought for 230k, put in 110k, 2 months later I cashout refid at an ARV of 680k . pulled out 220k in cash and its grossing 8200/m. figured I could do the same thing x 4.

We drive for dollars, pull lists of properties and get them skip traced.