Out of state investing is your best bet, IF you want to start right now.

I'm curious about the comment that properties won't appraise because there's no listing agent involved.

My shorter-term goals aren't quite as lofty, because I know there is a lot of work involved to get there.

@Teyvian Copeland Your best bet starting out would be to find a local real estate investors group.

I'm heavily involved in large construction projects and I was seeing a lot of interest in the region for large scale development projects.

Although my husband is a agent and it was easy to put in the MLS, he didn’t want to be involved in showing the property (we have demanding w-2 jobs and 3 kids) so we found a local agent who agreed to take any potential tenants who contacted us directly and they would receive that $750 commission if one of those qualified and moved in.

You could look into a hard money loan in order to finance the deal and go about it that way or even look into private lenders that want to get involved in your project.

I will instead argue what I see as the pros and cons without having to involve any court. 

I thought this would most likely my best bet for rapid growth.My strategy is fairly similar to what you did, and I really believe a 3 or 4 plex would make things even better, but good deals on those are really tough to find in my area.

Hello Biggerpockets,I live in San Diego and I'm a project manager in mechanical construction and looking to find a way to get involved and get started in real estate.