What I am suggesting is just that, a suggestion.. you need to determine what kind of life you want to live, then look at the vehicle that is going to best deliver that vision of your life.

I got a call the other morning at 4am from a tenant that was distressed because another tenant had come home drunk at 2am, turned up the stereo and proceeded to pass out in her apt, and none of the tenants could get her to come to the door so they called the police and after an hour of beating on the door they finally woke her up at 4:30.Try a sewer pipe backed up because a tenant flushed feminine products down the toilet and your the one that has to snake the system from in front of the blockage because it's the only way to get to it without draining 200 gallons of sewage on the basement floor, knowing that once you free the blockage you better get the snake out fast and the cap put on the clean out.

So, the way I got into this REI thing is that my wife and I have been talking for a while about finding another investment vehicle...

They reinvest the proceeds into an income producing vehicle and receive the interest income from it.

My wife and I began investing in Real Estate in 2011 as a retirement vehicle to supplement our 401K's, SS, and her pension (honestly we are not relying on SS).

We do full background checks otherwise and put more stock in job history, personal references and the length they have known them and, believe it or not, the condition of the inside of their vehicles.

For me, real estate is a retirement vehicle, a diversification strategy, and a hedge against inflation.

They are requesting that I put 85k down and pay off my vehicle which isn't a problem, I just don't understand why they are requiring so much and my agent has advised me that it could be because I am relocating.

What other markets/investment vehicles to look at?

My objective is to have a space for 1 vehicle in the garage, 1 vehicle in front of the garage door, and then lay a secondary pad aside the existing pad enough for one car to park in front of the house.