What's important is having your ducks in a row and being able to execute when you see something you like.

Million dollar home purchased by an executive and needed to relocate.

Last and most proper, complete an eviction and the obtain a writ of possession executed by the constable through the justice court with jurisdiction.

I the the founder/ executive director of a 13 year old nonprofit animal rescue organization in Texas. 

Being on the investor side of syndication would be a great way to start for anyone who lives in a hot market and can't exactly pick up and move to start full time in RE, heck just reading an executive summery that was put together by a half way decent RE syndicator is excellent education in and of itself!  

You will start to see trends in what seems to be working and not working currently in your market, you will learn a bit about how to execute those strategies successfully, assets required, and you can get an idea if the work involved meets your requirements and skills.One other option not mentioned ... if you cash out refinance the equity in your current home, would it cash flow as a rental?

@Devlin Harding  The key is to line up the initial acquisition financing that allows you to leverage your available capital to do more acquisitions than you can on your own, with a lender that is as invested in your success as you are, and can execute fast enough to give you a speed to market advantage.  

If you master your own strategy, you will be much more successful than the guy that executes many strategies marginally.Whew!

You need good systems and a good process that you execute on consistently.

One option presented was execute deeds from Grandmother to Mother and Mother to me to maintain prop-13 on both.