Make no mistake, the numbers are important, but distantly (including LTV, in our view).

I do not fall for that trick.My choice would be #3 hands down with a distant second choice being the students.

When you bought this distant property you signed up for, at some point, having to buy a last minute plane ticket, drop whatever's going on in your life, and get to the property.  

So being a distant landlord is absolutely possible.I started investing in 2006 off and on and now I am looking to rev things up and get back to investing in the market.

Eventually your perceived mistake will be a distant memory that you can laugh about.

My hope with this post is to show you that although “Financial Freedom” appears to be a distant fantasy, the reality is that through purposeful action you can be well on your way within 5 years.

All markets are cyclical, and housing has been on such an insane bull run that it's going to turn sometime in the not too distant (with the rest of the market).

While I'd like to stay as close to (but not within) seattle as possible,   I've been window shopping as far away as central and eastern washington,   but I haven't decided if I want a larger but relatively distant (still in washington) property or a smaller one within an hour or two round trip.IMO given the point in the RE market in seattle/puget sound area we are right now,  its really important to look for a property with potential to cash flow pretty quickly (wont be likely on day 1) with realistic rent increases that won't make the evening news  (almost everything on the market is being sold at a price based on proforma rents considerably increased from what they currently are it seems)  and I always seem to go for properties with some kind of upside via upgrades/renovations/expansion/redevelopment potential.  

I know it will need a roof in the not to distant future, and who knows what else you'll find when you turn on the water and electric.  

If I decided I was going to do that - and I am going to do that, at some point in the not-too-distant future (I'm almost 50 after all) - then my benchmark is at least several thousand dollars "clear" each month beyond all of my living expenses, such that my bank accounts continue to grow even without going to work.