I had to go that far away due to the insane cost of real estate in Boston, so I fully understand the predicament.

We are seeing people move from higher cost of living areas like Raleigh, Durham, chapel hill, and even Greensboro.   

Additionally you can do a cost segregation study and get a lot of depreciation benefits to offset the rental income (and potentially other income).  

.🔹 Insurance Challenges – Even when insurance pays, it rarely covers the actual cost to completely rebuild.

Quote from @Basit Siddiqi: I personally would not buy real estate with a retirement account.There are just too many headaches that are not worth the potential increased return.Some headaches when it comes to investing in real estate with a retirement account1) LTV values are less and harder to find lenders.2) Potential to sell or partially distibute the property if you have to do a RMD(Required Minimum Distribution)3) If you run out of cash and have to make a major repair, you may be out of luck and have to sell.4) Having to potentially worry about UBTI(Unrelated Business Taxable Income)I would personally invest in stocks/bonds/notes with a retirement account.I buy deals with cash and use a ROTH SDIRA so there are no RMD's.I buy at huge discounts to retail.

The property had significant upside potential as it was priced below market value and required mostly cosmetic updates.

I decided to look into an official duplex or triplex putting 150K down that has value add with renovations and potential unit add but it wont have as much equity because it will be an on market deal. 

I fell off the wagon when I saw a bullet point that indicated all second story apartments have an elevator and their suggestion that it was possible to get 1000% Plus Potential Cash-on-Cash return in the 1st Year.Where has SCDC built?

.- Owner must sign a Hold Harmless to indemnify us against any potential tenant lawsuits relating to the work their contractor is doing.--- Another lawsuit resulted from owner's contractor taking down basement handrail to get supplies down the steps, then they didn't put it back and tenant fell down the stairs.- We also negotiate a reasonable completion date, depending on the Scope Of Work (SOW). --- Who gets all the phone calls and wastes time calming a tenant down because the owner's contractor doesn't show up as scheduled after they took time off from work or a 3 day job takes 3 weeks?

Use tools like the VA loan for house hacking and your Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) to cover living costs while building equity.