Can anyone help me with how I can make a better-educated decision about this? 

"Figure out who and where you want to be in 10 - 20 years with your investment business then choose to make the decisions now that you will make then".

@Marichelle Lao the decision may also depend on where it is in Chattanooga.

I like the idea of stacking information to make our decisions more effective. 

It's a very common phenomenon with those who just don't want to see beyond the curtain, So before sharing your goal with anyone I check whether their thought process in line with mine and take a decision whether or not share my real estate goal with them, Though I believe in sharing goals with like-minded people because then you may find someone who can support you to reach towards your goal. 

Hi everyone, I am 51 and I've always wanted to get into real estate, but I've been too busy making really bad financial decisions.

The thing to remember is that Judges get to make the decision on enforceability and they are likely to consider the equability of the trade of rights for the offer of monetary gains.Many major operators in Michigan learned the error of their ways via the courts and an expensive lesson it was. 

Together we made the decision that we are in a good enough position for me to leave corporate. 

I over-analyze every decision I make in regards to where I put my money, and am working on understanding of basic ROI principles with SFH properties.

I think you guys are both right, I am going to first start focusing in the Arizona area and get a feel for the market, before I make any drastic decisions.