Other important thing is not to buy a house with an odd floor plan, too small, low ceilings, etc. We bought and remodeled 13 before the market turned, and the only ones we had a hard time turning was one that was real small (950sq ft), and one that had a bit of an unusual floor plan. I know you are planning on renting them, but you may want to sell them at some point.

I had 13 rentals but they were all single wide mobile homes (lower income renters) which isn't what I would recommend. You can make some money but it's a pretty tough business when dealing with lower income renters.