For a new construction that the house will last at least 50 years before major repairs, we were pretty happy with the current result.

While cashing out more equity might seem appealing, it will result in a lower cash-on-cash return due to the higher rate and LTV.

Active real estate investors who can't get comfortable not being in the driver's seat, people who just don't like real estate as an investment, those who can't get comfortable with the risks, those who just don't understand syndicate investments, those who have heard bad things about this type of investing from others, and people who have invested in syndicates and experienced bad results.

The numbers are a little different ($50k down, 5% interest, property taxes $5k/yr) but the result is essentially the same.

Understand results will vary from student to student and teacher to teacher.

I would also recommend looking at cities close to Greenville, like Anderson, Easley, & Simpsonville as well since Greenville can be competitive unless you are looking at off-market deals.Also the non-occupancy tax would be based on the tax assessed value of the property and not the income it produces.

Other distractions include non income-producing activities - aka any distraction pulling you to do something other than speaking with and following up with people.How can I prepare myself?

That was my impression as well from him and my research results. 

If I'm looking to househack with my family (I had a toddler and a newborn the last time we did it) I might be interested in 1/3 of these neighborhoods, of which a few will absolutely produce some income (assuming you're number's aren't ultra-conservative) upon moving in year 2-3.

In my opinion, you can make as much money buying cheap houses as you can buying expensive homes.Affordability is an issue for a lot of Americans so I will argue cheaper cities performed better over the past 10 years than more expensive markets / houses.San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA and New York, NY are considered expensive markets.If I look at Zillow's price estimate for homes comparing 2016 and 2024San Francisco - Average Price of home was $1,145,000 and now its 1,262,000(Increase of 10%)Seattle - Average Price of home was $561,000 and now its $848,000(51%)New York - Average price was $561,000 and now its $766,000(37%)Memphis, TN, Indianapolis, IN and Clevlenad, OH are considered cheaper markets.Zillow is showing more appreciation in these markets over the same time periodMemphis - Average price was $73,000 and now its $149,000(104%)Indianapolis - Average price was $107,000 and now its $225,000(110%)Cleveland - Average price was $54,000 and now its $109,000(101%)Population increases and job growth are two indicators that result in appreciation.Two of the cheaper markets listed above(Memphis and Cleveland) are not increasing in population.