If you are a micro manager by nature I don't recommend it as you'll need to hand the reigns over to other people. 

Way to hard to clean food and dust off of. example:https://www.homedepot.com/p/MSI-Alaska-Gray-Splitface-12-in-x-12-in-x-10mm-Marble-Mesh-Mounted-Mosaic-Tile-ALGRY-SFIL10MM/206741880Too busyhttps://www.homedepot.com/p/MSI-Magica-12-in-x-12-in-x-6mm-Glass-and-Stone-Mesh-Mounted-Mosaic-Tile-SGLS-MAG6MM/206741857Very uniform and neutral, adds design fare.https://www.homedepot.com/p/MSI-Honeycomb-Hexagon-12-in-x-12-in-x-10mm-Natural-Marble-Mesh-Mounted-Mosaic-Floor-and-Wall-Tile-HONCOM-2HEX/205307895

Hope you know I wasn't speaking poorly of townhome occupants - just highlighting the very odd nature of the DC market vs. the other more traditional markets we've lived in. 

Due to the nature of my career (I'm an economist with a tenure track job), I have fairly idle summers.

So basically I'm making a name for myself as a wholesaler period no company I come up with or anything of that nature.

But....if you can buy in a smaller town for less than the price of construction, you naturally have some built in barriers of entry.  

Even the best sales people will take 6 months to get begin getting paid due to the natural cycle of real estate, and many people don't close a sale for longer than that. 

Usually, something of that age would be natural gas in western PA.

Is this an issue related to the nature of the work they have to do?

Short sales are speculative by nature.