Difficulty in finding tenants is directly related to what kind of properties you are buying.

I am almost 55 and still have kids waiting to go to college so saving will be a little more difficult. I

The only part that is “difficult” is cutting in, but also you cannot skip steps.

Without commenting as to the ease or difficulty, passive or active aspect, here are a few commercial deals I’ve made outsized profits on in fairly short periods of time.  

Moving forward we are exploring possibly combing households due to the large size of the property and the difficulty of upkeep but there are several questions/ issues that need to be addressed so it does not put either of us in a compromised position.When her husband died a friend paid off her mortgage due to it going into foreclosure ( 210k total).

Another option is to find developers who want to build multifamily by 2026/2027 (assuming that there is loan inventory by then due to the difficulties in securing new construction loans). 

The two downsides to syndications are the high minimum investment and the difficulty in finding good sponsors and deals, but you can solve for both by joining a passive real estate investment club.

I'm having difficulty finding contacts that need to place patients / tenants in homes. 

This is called cash-for-keys and is common in markets where eviction is difficult. I

TICs are becoming more common in LA these days; they're like condos, but the structure is different.I'm not a TIC expert, but from what I understand, adjusting the ratio of ownership is difficult. I