Charlotte is one of the best areas in the US to buy rental real estate and it has been so that I know of personally since 1993.Top areas have been since 2002:Phoenix (now pricey), Dallas Ft Worth, Austin, Vegas,Charlotte.Charlotte is not a tourist economy like Las Vegas, CLT has a solid finance, manufacturing and tech base for employment. 

(Currently, the owner does not accept personal checks from the tenants.  

How do you check out a company or person before doing business with them?

Depending on how much is owed and how much the association wants to spend you might have to weigh small claims versus foreclosure versus personal judgement/wage garnishment.

In the next few years, I hope to be able to start investing in real estate (buy and hold, multis), and in the next couple of year I will probably be purchasing a new personal residence.

I would take a look at their financials and see how many units owe money, what their aged owner report looks like (how many units owe over 30 days), ask what their collection process is, ask who their property management company is and check out the manager's reviews online.  

I'm putting together an email that I'm going to send to some Realtors that I know personally and see if they are game...I thought I read a blog on here once where the writer had an email that they used to send to realtors w/ a link but I recall the link being dead...anybody know the article I'm talking about...

I purchased my personal house from a flipper and when the bank realized that we signed the sale agreement less than 90 day after the owner (flipper) had purchased it we had to re-sign the agreement after the 90 day period was over with delaying the closing.

In FL, I believe RE sales associate can form business entities for tax purposes but it must specifically be the name of the person such as: John Smith, LLC.

In the first deal, is it recommended to take a route through a realtor, or a wholesaler, or personal direct marketing?