With your method of paying off the properties it would be foolish to keep them once they are paid off as their cash value wisely invested elsewhere, in a truly passive form at retirement, will far exceed any income the properties themselves generate.Rental properties can not be considered as a passive investment by any stretch of the imagination.

I can buy that...I just can't imagine how to come across that many deals...

I would imagine in Memphis there are probably a few big players in this particular area of the law.  

I imagine that not all of these will be within driving distance.

Is it my computer or imagination?  

I imagine both groups probably do very similar things and are equally valuable.

Because tax law treats investment and owner occupied property differently, I would imagine that the only consequences would be in capital gains and depreciation changes.

I imagine they are adding mortgage payments as an expense.

If the repairs are less than I imagine from our phone conversation there may be money in the deal.  

Be driven and focused, meditate about this before you go to bed and when you wake up in the morning.