I am looking for advice from people who have done this in the past.

Quote from @Vince Scipione: Yes, they are a popular choice where I live and work, however with the ever fluctuating cost of oil heat, many people have swapped over their boilers/furnaces to what is called a "Propane Gun" essentially it is a device that is affixed to the front of the furnace/boiler that injects the propane and ignites it.

The best way to start is by surrounding yourself with people who are already doing what you’re trying to do.

Starting to get competitive though for investment properties because of that reason you have more and more people entering the market from out of state.

As long as it meets "minimum" size standards it can look like a broom closet and be considered a bedroom... ridiculous, but it's out there, and in a tight market people will pay for it... 

It saddens me to see millions of people strapped to their jobs, trying to protect their holy grail 401K, until they are 60, and then start taking their "distributions", having a couple of decades left to live.

Melanie:You say I sound like an operator, but you may have missed that I'm talking about my PASSIVE investments.  

I find that a lot of people don't recommend you go out there first.

There are plenty of people looking to deploy cash into real estate but don’t have the knowledge or bandwidth to run a successful flip or BRRRR.

I haven't heard of any, but met with a few people in the twin cities last year.