How to get started in looking for a rental property - where to begin?

My fiance and I bought our first rental property at the age of 30. It's not easy and it was a little scary but you can do it too. How? Here are some suggestions to help you get started!

1. Save, save, save. You will need money to buy a rental property. You might be able to buy one without putting any money down but you certainly can't own one. You will need money to fix things that break and to cover vacancies. We saved some of our down-payment by renting out a room in our house, you can read about it here. If you're buying a $100,000 house you need to save up, I would suggest $40,000 for down-payment, closing costs and emergency fund before you buy! Yes this is hard, but it's also the most important step.At some point you might want to spend it all on a vacation but later, when the rent money starts to come it, you'll be so glad you didn't!
2. Read about what makes a good rental property. When I first bought the house we live in now, I had the idea that eventually it could be a rental when we moved into a larger house but I had no idea what made a good rental! Now I know it probably won't work as a rental, for one thing it doesn't meet the 1% rule. Not every house can be rented for a profit. I learned the most about real estate from the Mr. Money Mustache "Real Estate and Landlording" forum, which later led me to Bigger Pockets. Thankfully by the time I bought our rental house, I had a better idea  of what I was doing because of all of the time I spent learning and reading.
3. Research your market. Don't have a real estate agent driving you all over town when you are years from being ready to buy but look at listings online and drive around in areas you think you might want to invest. You can also go to open houses to see some listings in person. I love open houses and will sometimes stop and take a look if I happen to drive by one and don't have anywhere else I need to be, just to see what the house is like and what the asking price is.
4. Check your credit score. If you want to invest in real estate, you'll probably need a loan. Check your credit score and if it's not where it needs to be, try to improve it. See a guide on how to improve your score here. I check mine on Credit Karma and Mint.com regularly.
5. Practice running the numbers.  First you need to estimate the rent from the property then you need to estimate your expenses to see if owning it as a rental will be profitable. To run a quick calculation of the numbers I like to use this spreadsheet from Good Mortgage, this can help me see if I'm in the ballpark. Whenever I'm shopping (I browse a lot even though were not ready to buy #2 yet), I run the numbers conservatively, than more middle range and then optimistically to see how it looks if everything goes wrong vs most things going right.
6. Set a budget and get pre-approved. Since you have been researching your market, you should have a good idea of how much you'll need to buy a rental. Figure out the maximum you want to spend and get pre-approved for a loan (assuming you need one).
7. Start shopping more seriously. You've been practicing shopping but if you have done all of the above and you have saved up enough, you are ready to start looking.

I was seriously planning to buy a rental property for about two years before I actually did it. Realistically I'd been interested in real estate most of my adult life. I spent those two years not only saving my down payment and looking at everything for sale in my market but also reading everything I could online about real estate investment and land-lording. I will not lie, even though I wanted it, it was very anxiety inducing. You don't have to look around much online for stories of renters who trashed the house and didn't pay any rent. I was worried about that (and still am) but you can also find lots of advice and suggestions on what to do from people who are happy to help you.

Are you a real estate investor? I'd love to hear your tips and how you got started!