We plan on brightening it up with a lighter paint and upgrading the kitchenette area.

It is a much more Blue Collar area and the duplexes acquired by the investors that I have worked with, are doing well.  

We still own the condo, we just have tenants in there who are willing to pay the HOA fee and the increased taxes in order to access the slightly better school system up there.Bottom line, someone who just shows up alone and out of the blue, says they make 3x your rent, offer you nothing else when you explain the income verification problem, and object to a month-to-month rental contract or an increased security deposit, well, they're probably lying about how much money they make.

What's the stable blue collar job?

I agree lighter and neutrals are best.

I know on the debt side of these offerings it was/is hard to compete with the Blue sky IRR that is posted by MF or other syndicators promoting 20 to 40% IRRs ..

Your goal is to create an income producing portfolio so that you can retire from your blue collar job in 10 years.

lately, I’ve been thinking about many different strategies regarding real estate.I originally did wholesaling for a few months but ended up stopping bc it just took up too much of my time especially with my full time job.second, I thought of having rentals but I was hesitant bc I live in NJ & the rental laws here aren’t the greatest and it’s hardly any deals that can justify for the rent to cover the mortage in this expensive market.Right now ive been thinking about possibly flipping properties in my own back yard NJ or possibly out of state where home prices are much lower in certain markets.Anyone have advice if I should possibly flip properties where I live in NJ (blue state) or possibly go into another market and flip virtually..?

Maybe I am on the wrong side, I do not know but our risk is viewed differently and more importantly our reward timelines are very, very different.White collar jobless claims up, but we need to see not blue but retail get trimmed a bit.

.,  where I can see this for sure is with agents on BIG teams that are beginning their carrier they get cash flow ( IE they get paid I suspect from you weekly or monthly out of the retainer).... ya I can see this.and as you said your blue color FHA buyer with minimal cash savings is probably not your target.. but sophisticated number crunchers..