Since I am still a W-2 employee, I have decided to start with wholesaling to build experience as well some active income. 

The only thing making me questioning staying is that it is an ESOP(Employee Stock owenership Plan).

@Sam MillerIf you are and intend to be self-employed with no full time employees, then the Solo 401(k) will be by far the better option.  

yeah 10-20k discount doesn't sound like much for a flood damaged property.I saw a realtor in Houston  here on BP mention that Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) added a feature to search for Harvey damaged homes , not sure if there is something similar in FL.

I tried this with one of my very first tenants - an Amazon employee - and despite every party doing everything "correctly," it just didn't work.

Also, if a government employee has to go over to that property for some reason, then it could expedite the process for you.

They apparently manage almost 300 properties, which was kind of a red flag to me because there were only 4 employees.

One draw is the large insurance company there, which brings in new employees and their families.

I am thinking maybe the owner would be happy to receive some rental income and instead of it being a money pit because he has to pay some employees such as a manager and gardener to take care of it while it sits empty and for sale. 

The real question is what other interesting tactics could you employee to be more creative then the competition and get an edge?