When your having your doubts just keep pushing toward your goals and doors will open up as your mindset and perception changes.

It's different for all of us and, accordingly (at least in my view) not worthy of debate in a forum that exists for the purpose of sharing knowledge and experience rather than passing judgement on perceived motivations.This is the primary reason why I chose the tagline "I would rather be judged by the quality of my contributions rather than perceptions of my motivations" in my profile.

People's perceptions of you and what you are all about is summed up within a matter of seconds.  

I think there's a perception (fueled by DIY/HGTV/Infomercials) that this is an easy business to do well in. 

This pictures looks very bad from so many different angles, including their perception of you. 

On the flip side, if the immediate neighbors are homeowners, they may have an inherit negative perception about renters that may cause them to not be as friendly.

. :)I believe if there is little to no cash flow in the twin cities .. that the market is pricing for risk.. its probably a very easy area to run rentals in.. at least the thought perception of people from that area is very nice caring folks who probably make some pretty solid tenants.. one thing I find is that rental returns very much run along the risk profile of the tenant base.. also potential for appreciation.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9232/blog_posts/55313-intro-to-section-8---your-perceptions-vs-my-realities

My perception from listening to that podcast was that his 10k a month was rent - piti and didn’t account for vacancies, maintenance, capex, etc.

Now, you can have an agent's license, but in the loan business decide which side of the fence you want to be on, it's the perception that counts. :)