its a compelling value proposition when you take in to account  energy to run them will be 20% of gas price and no real maintenance   but to be fair brand new cars don't have a lot of maintenance the first 75k miles or so.. but I did have a Honda accord I bought in 09 and the engine fried at 30k miles they did replace it.. but if it had gone over warranty that would have been a bummer.. this is why in the last 30 years I sell my cars before I need tires or the warranty expires.. 

So it doesn't necessarily have to be an either-or proposition.2.

banking on appreciation is a losing proposition in my book, although ask some other real estate investors, and you may get the answer you want.

Just know your value proposition (i.e your selling point or what makes your unique) I know you probably don't have one yet as a new agent but start working on it ASAP.

It's not an either/or proposition at all. 

My property taxes go up with no logical pattern (confirmed with other Indy investors) whereas my California properties go up 2% a year (Proposition 13) from the original property tax basis. 

I don't think, however, unless you have some unique business proposition, that being a PM business only will ever be very lucrative. 

My point was just that for an investor, it's not a great option, even though it's a college town in need of housing.What you guys might want to do, if your state constitution allows it, is do what California did back in the 1970's with Proposition 13. 

Rootstock is an interesting proposition for passive investing.

It’s a do it yourself or lose money proposition