Don't worry about possible greener grass in other opportunities to the point it detracts from your current plan. 

@Jake Greener edit: we have already decided to each put 50% of the money down for the property and all maintenance required.

All that said, one thing we learned the past couple of years is people can work from almost anywhere on the planet now. 

Just about everything on this planet has a life expectancy and everything inside and outside a home has a life expectancy.

You are comparing the 5th largest economy on the planet with the best weather, most resources and largest population of highly educated and wealthy people with elite universities to Sears,  a great company destroyed by a Goldman Sachs bean counter who overthought everything.  

Facebook Marketplace is the biggest waste of time on the planet.

The advantage is you reach a massive buyer pool, basically anyone on the planet with the internet. 

Do I just punt on this neighborhood and find greener investing pastures?

If you don't think the media race baits...then I literally have NO idea what planet you could be on 

Wednesday, May 6, 2021, Judge Dabney Friedrich overturned the national eviction moratorium that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention had put in place on September 4, 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.If you have been living somewhere other than “planet earth” and have no clue what a moratorium is, by definition a moratorium is a temporary prohibition of an activity.