If you are not in a good neighborhood, you will not be attracting great tenants and sharing a duplex with someone can be a highly stressful and unpleasant experience, especially if the structure is not truly conducive to being a duplex.

When you have a VERIFIABLE record of success within specific property types - and typically specific geographical areas, you MAY be able to attract enough passive investment to begin syndicating smaller type deals.  

Alternatively the debtor can payoff the note either in full or at a negotiated discount.  

At the time I looked, 20 or so years ago, the problem with smaller down towns is the proliferation of nearby strip malls, where the stores are surrounded by a large parking lots, and for laundromats, attract more customers as they can park easily, walk to adjacent stores for shopping, snacks, and browse newspaper and magazine racks, which explains why they do better, there's more customers.

Alternatively i could go for being a real estate broker and try to get experience in actual real estate without putting too much of my own skin in the game.

Both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought”Mans Search for Meaning: - “What matters, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment”The Richest Man in Babylon: - “To attract goodluck to oneself, it is necessary to take advantage of opportunities” - “Men of action are favored by the goodness of good luck”The Millionaire Next Door: - “Looks can be deceiving”

If you’re really set on building a portfolio, this might be a good way to go since it’ll give you the liquidity to take on more properties.BRRRR: If you’re leaning towards long-term rental income and portfolio growth, the BRRRR method could be an attractive option, but you’re right to consider the numbers carefully.

There could also be a change to the HOA by-laws eliminating the right to lease and alternatively if too many units are tenant occupied it could impact the warrantability of the financing which would be problematic if you wanted to sell the unit.

Be vocal about the deals you are finding, money attracts hustle and deals.

An annuity is definitely a different level of risk exposure than this type of an alternative investment.