However, only the time you personally spend on managing or coordinating the property counts.

Or you can sign up with a company like Solo 401K, use their IRS approved documents, and spend about $750.  

It asks them a bunch of questions so I can know whether or not they should even bother spending the money to apply.

In the old days, grandpa would buy the shingles and spend his week of vacation from the factory replacing the roof when it was needed.

As a result, many investors (including myself) are either spending a very small premium for way fewer headaches in other markets or moving farther afield to more promising opportunities. 

There is so much content already here on BP, why don't you just spend a little time reseraching?

But I wanted a nice property and I couldn't justify spending $500,000 on a nice property there.  

Spend more than half of your total working hours in an RE business in which you materially participate.2.

If you have the extra time, I recommend spending some time calling owners around your area.

Why we build the same floorplan over and over again:1) Easier for Trades and Faster Build Times: Our trades have been working on the same layouts repeatedly, so they have become more efficient.2) Less Mental Space for Decisions: We don’t spend too much time deciding on which floorplan to build, we focus our time on growing the business and serving our customers.3) Best ROI based on Square Footage: The floorplan we build gives us the best return on investment.