You CAN do both in a partnership if done correctly.You need to find an accountant who also invests heavily in real estate.One tip.  

My last house & this one is a fortress, lit up like a bank at night, alarm system, cameras all over & me heavily armed inside.

More details/observations below..In 2009 & 2010, I saw a large proportion of sold homes that were in very poor physical condition (REO's etc) and not ready to be occupied, which appeared to be weighing heavily downward on price indeces.

First of all, I'm a female and working in both IT (which really didn't exist back then save but the military projects) and real estate, which was even way more heavily dominated by men than it is now.

Jon, yes, the properties affected so heavily are the ones that either were receiving government subsidized rates or homes that were not previously in a flood zone but have been re-mapped into one based on new, more accurate flood maps.

I don't know what its like in your county, but in Pittsburgh, they generally look heavily at a recent sales price.

If they had done 1/2 as much advertising when I was their customer.......I am going to rely heavily on this site and the wisdom of its members going forward.

Ever since I was a young teen, I have had inkling that I wanted to be heavily involved in real estate.

I use the mls, I also negotiate heavily and am not afraid to walk away.

To piggyback on what @J Scott said: when you start heavily into looking/marketing for the off market stuff, it can boost your sales agent biz too.