Investor with CASH in VA, MD, DC area, Thoughts on PG county

[Jami Carnagey]

Hi guys and gals, 

My wife and I have accumulated ~$160K over the last two years. All liquid but half ($80K) is in Stocks and ETF's right now so not crazy about pulling it out with the market down so much. We are looking to real estate to increase our overall returns and add to our portfolio. I have rooted around on this site quite a bit and rolled around with the real estate thing for a while but I realize what I need is actual experience. 

My initial thoughts are that I am open to rehabbing properties and rentals. I live in Fort Washington MD, and have been looking at my local area for potential. New $2B casino going in right now, National Harbor is 2 miles away. And there is talk of adding a Tech corridor a couple miles away. The area is older(70's era), depressed, and has lots of foreclosures still. Home prices under $300K abound but most are poorly maintained. Super close to DC and Alexandria VA. Where I live has potential I think but I am not committed to one area although my money will go further here vs DC or VA.

Anyone working in PG county or Fort Washington MD more specifically? Any thoughts on the area? I am very wary of it since most houses are so poorly maintained, lots of delinquencies and horrible schools.  But a 2 miles south, house prices go up and houses are much nicer, especially along the river ($500K -1.2M).

Brief Bio: My wife and I are college educated and working full time in Professional careers. I am an economist and data analyst, she is a CFO for a government contractor. I also have a small welding and machine shop (building custom metal furniture for kurtzandatkins.com). I also did most of the work on the foreclosure we bought 6 years ago. We have 4 kids and are looking for a way to get out of the rat race, run our own business and home school our kids.

 Thanks for any advice.