I'm also a family man with two pre-teen boys, so live-in roomates or renting bedrooms is not for me at this stage in life.

My teen doesn't need a 12 x 15 room with a King bed and I wouldn't want to pay a higher price for that.

Renters are not careful and do not understand that issue with jeeps.If you want to give them a 4 wheel drive vehicle, do it like you would for your teen--give them a tank, not a toy. 

You need to check if the person can cash the cashier cheques and ran away from $100K-1,000Ks of it.Their fees are different, Some I think are quite knowledgeable wanting a 5 figures ($)compensation some look like street people or teen gangs.

www.biggerpockets.com/teen.

True turn-key CoC returns are roughly 8-10% with IRRs in the mid teens from 1-2% appreciation and deleveraging.

Maybe the "pro" investors don't find it sexy to invest in the small rural towns.

And certainly, If buy and hold real estate w/ property manager takes 1 hour a month and holding an index fund takes 0, then that defiantly needs to be considered along with personal goals, return, diversification, versatility, etc.If buy and hold real estate with a property manager only took 1 hour per month but earned mid to high teens in returns, all invest-able funds in the world would be in it.

You could buy a publicly traded REIT tomorrow but it doesn’t as cool, sexy, exclusive as a syndication.

The renovation and new development stuff is sexy and visual, but the next 5 years spent operating the rental is more important.