Do you have appropriate Landlord insurance on the property, that covers your personal property in the common areas among other elements?

Seems like there were court decisions in numerous states.

Yes, there are numerous ways to go about it if the numbers all align with the right lender that can look at your specifics. 

@Amy Charles I'm personally not a fan of investing in real estate through 401k's or IRA's because real estate comes with numerous tax benefits that you lose when you stick it in a tax-deferred account.

I love rent properties but am not a fan of condos for numerous reasons.

My employer owns numerous commercial properties around the San Angelo area and has been incredible at introducing me to many role players, but I was hoping to join either an investor group or monthly meetup in the area?

That said there is another element to how that works.

There are numerous threads here on BP that could help you answer those questions. 

Otherwise, I would advise taking the easier path and letting GPs in numerous MF and commercial/industrial funds do the heavy lifting for you.

I have had numerous issues with the company that I won't get into detail here (mainly revolving around overhead and surprise fees), and I wanted to note that they are a part of NARPM.