Be in a deversified economy and a growth in population.  

You will have economies of scale when you deal with duplex/quadplexes. 

Found myself managing 3 projects at same time, with no economies of scale.

Then just pray that their stagnant economy improves

I used to spend my summers in high school and college working construction for my father's remodeling company, so i guess you can say being a handy man is in my blood.We really interested in investing our money in real estate as opposed to the stock market because our wealth SHOULD be dependent on our passion and abilities over the economy.

Yes, your own investments in real estate can probably do better, but if you stop putting money in the 401k, the additional after-tax cash you will have in your paycheck to redirect towards real estate will be a small fraction of what you are putting into the 401k.In this economy, very few of us work for one employer for our whole career.  

(I guess that debt has to be paid off by someone) I would love to fix up some of the abandoned communities and convert many to gated communities I just have to do more research and analysis on the economy/recovery.

Look in the middle of the country at secondary and tertiary markets with stable and growing economies that are relatively diverse and not at the mercy of one large corporation. 

I think that may be because they have been so reluctant to press the issue until the economy improved though. 

Charlotte is one of the best areas in the US to buy rental real estate and it has been so that I know of personally since 1993.Top areas have been since 2002:Phoenix (now pricey), Dallas Ft Worth, Austin, Vegas,Charlotte.Charlotte is not a tourist economy like Las Vegas, CLT has a solid finance, manufacturing and tech base for employment.