The risks I saw to purchasing the home with the seller carrying the note and living rent free is that liability now shifts to me as the landlord.   

You are shifting the AC unit maintenence to yourself by doing this.

Perhaps shifting to work for a startup might free you up out of the corporate America's stuffiness.2) Devote More Time To Your Hobbies: Don't know how much free time you have, but perhaps you can increase the amount of time you spend fixing up dirt bikes and rebuilding classic cars with your kids.

Unfortunately, I was surprised to learn of potentially expensive issues with the foundation shifting.

I think what you are seeing is a product of the shift in demographics.

When someone becomes a multi-millionaire for many there is mindset shift of wanting good yield with the least amount of headache.

Democrats accumulating more and more power in California as the demographics continue to shift wildly in their favor means rent control is absolutely inevitable in coastal areas of Southern California.

I can make that now if I work 4 12 hour shifts a week and thats hard days.

So I got back into rei this past few months after sitting on the sideline about 6 months before that.  I'm a former builder who got rocked pretty good in 2008 then took a job out of state and just recently moved back ...

With the Open Window Project and some other revitalization buzz going on, you can see rehabbed properties as well as population profile shift happening.