Use some for buy and hold (I personally would prefer apartments rather than buying a few single family homes) and some for lending/trust deed investing.In either category, you must know what you are doing, know how to vet the investment, how to vet the sponsor (if investing in a larger fund of some sort), the laws and regulations on the lending side, how to investigate which areas to invest in buy and hold and notes/trust deeds for that matter.So as you have already said several times, lots to think about . . . 

I never received a single response from an actual property owner — just self-promotions from PMCs or people affiliated with PMCs.

As info, I'm focused on long term buy and hold single family.

It works like this:(1) Save up enough money for a down payment(2) Buy a single family home that you will Airbnb/VRBO(3) Ensure the “average period of customer use” is <=7 days(4) Materially participate (5) Cost segregate the property, resulting in large depreciation deductions(6) Use the losses from step 5 to offset your W2 incomeWhat makes this possible is that operating an STR is considered “non-passive.”

Your listing will not come up with these searches.You mention a large fenced in backyard and not a single picture of it!

I also have a LTR single family home with positive cash flow.  

., "I will buy at least one single-family home, duplex, triplex, or fourplex before the end of 2019") and then do it.

And you can do it every single year. 

My brother and I inherited a single family home last year and we also inherited a tenant.

I’ve been self-managing a single-family rental (SFR) for a while now, and I’m interested in taking my property management skills to the next level.