Investing out of state is absolutely feasible but should be done after getting some skin in the game.

Agents...well, agent by and large suck when it comes to running good, realistic comps that can match the sale and rental comps I can produce using free tools like my county real estate website, lovely Zillow again, Craigslist, and most importantly, my in-depth knowledge of my target area.I've met two agents in real life who can make the rain come (one of them is @Anthony Angotti) and only a handful more very obviously competent people in far-off markets here on Bigger Pockets (@Frank Wong @Mike Cumbie @Russell Brazil and maybe a couple more) The rest are, to put it plainly, a waste of skin to me and not much else for the rest of the world.I used to have an acquaintance who was a beginner agent and I felt like booting him one in the butt every time we talked.

To put it simply, I’ve been told that I do not have enough skin in the game myself in order to cash out some equity.We bought the seller financed with only a $30,000 down payment.

The skin in the game investors are doing as expected. 

the flipper is in essance getting hundred 100% financing and has no skin in the game.. one thing that could sway the deal though is some cross collateral. 

You'll need a little thicker skin if you are going to invest in real estate. :) As you can see from Chris' response, the team at MemphisInvest are top notch.

Otherwise, work with an active partner who is willing to put some skin in the game.

Having someone who is local with skin in the game should increase your odds of success.

There is also big opportunity for fraud in any area with subjectivity and opportunity for big gains.Bottom line - valuations on cash-out refis are less reliableAdditionally, lenders like to see "skin in the game" in terms of properties - psychologically, a borrower that is putting down cold hard cash on an acquisition means they have real $ to lose if things go wrong.

If that is the case, many lenders will require for you to have some skin in the game.