Your aspiration to use real estate for retirement and explore the Gulf Coast is commendable!

Fast internet (there's a reason it's called Gig City), great population growth, industry (Amazon, Volkswagon, Unum, Erlanger, TVA, BlueCross, etc), outdoor living, etc. 

Despite a 56% year-over-year decrease in transaction volume to a 14-year low of $35 billion, quarterly sales activity remained stable throughout most of 2023, with 23Q4 volume slightly above the level set in 23Q1.The early months of 2024 saw a significant shift in the market dynamics, with owner-users overtaking private buyers as the primary buyers of large office developments.

Some mentees will act as a bloodhound for the mentor, knocking on doors, driving for dollars, scouring the internet, making cold calls, or performing other services that help the mentor find new deals.

I was wondering also how these title being done pre internet era ?

Create a guest network that they can be used.Add some disclaimers to your lease for internet use.

Other markets can appreciate more quickly and you can use real value-add strategies in larger units.

So many nuances from property taxes, insurances, what does airdna or rabbit say, cost of internet, HOA, permit costs, local utilities, are you doing maintenance or is someone else.... 

But with $40,000, you can buy, renovate, and hold or buy, renovate, and flip (turnkey to an investor or to an end user).Obviously, there are some risks, which can all be mitigated with some due diligence.

BP won't let me tag him for some reason, so here's a link to his profile: https://www.biggerpockets.com/users/allenduan