The weather means I don't need to run sprinklers or shovel snow.

They mow the lawn, shovel the snow, plant flowers and take care of minor maintenance.The best that I have ever been able to do was 11% expense ratio. 

His comment was that if you worked in a shipyard or an asbestos mine for decades, you probably have a medical problem.Assuming you aren't a miner, or a ship builder and want to proceed, you start by spraying the ceiling with water and keeping the material wet and scraping the ceiling with a flat shovel which removes the popcorn.

Stop being so cheap and replace with asphalt, You cant shovel a gravel driveway....

@Soren Loftus to use some Dave Ramsey lingo: you have dug a big hole; but you have a big shovel (income) and with the proper discipline you'll get where you want to be.

This doesnt mean TX/FL are worst however I would need a deal that provided a higher gross income, risk adjusted return, or metrics to warrant that extra operating expense and down the line capital expense too(since all 3 of these states are state income tax free - apples to apples from that perspective.)

Remember the truism that selling shovels to gold miners is how you make money in this world and not by gold mining. 

An agent shoveling just on-market, there just plain wrong.

My best mentors have turned out to be my contractor, who started out as my handyman 18-20 years ago shoveling snow for me, and is now my go to for everything, and my Realtor who I’ve worked with for about 26 years now.

When I was a kid I shoveled driveways in the winter for $$.