Initially, the properties that I buy in another market don't have to cash flow a lot, my metric is $150, as I'm focused on the long term gain when they're paid off  and I have a W2 and am also a realtor.

Slow start but hoping to gain momentum.

At that time, my friend encouraged me to get into real estate with the idea of creating passive income and wealth in future (via appreciation).

Of course the listed price may not be the actual rented price, but by tracking several listings for a while you can gain a better understanding of the market.

Net Sale - Is the contract price, minus the closing costs and commissions.adjust cost basis - net sale = net gainYour gain is made up of profit and depreciation recapture.

Based on a quick answer from Perplexity it seems like there would be no issue with you buying the home and collecting passive income, but you may not be allowed to manage it yourself since that is considered active work.

@Dylan Jeluso see if you can join a team in your real estate office to gain experience.

@Caryn Fischer  The downside of gifting or selling property to your children is that it can have capital gains tax consequences.

They get a higher return since they are covering housing cost, have the $250k per spouse primary residence deduction in gains, is a savings account, higher leverage position, lower interest rate possible, will pay more premium for location, etc.House might be overpriced for REITs but not for home owners.  

Quote from @Jay Fayz: Hello everyone,I've recently been exploring real estate as a potential career path and I'm looking for advice on the best entry-level job to gain experience and knowledge.