This implies that a property you purchase can decline in value in the short term.  

I'm a corporate management consultant and leadership/management trainer with some great clients throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. 

That is not a realistic expectation.What is realistic is for you to look at those 67 properties, pick 2 or 3 of them out that you might think work, then ask for the comps on those 2 or 3 properties.No that's not at all what I was implying.

'Lending money or extending credit' implies that the 401k will be paying me back, which is not the case.

I should have said "close to Being one of the worst neighborhoods" vs simply "Close to"  What I wrote could imply it was not physically close to a bad area.

I am not implying that OP do Sec 8, unless he wants to.

@Carter BushmanThe classic strategy of reducing SE taxes (Social Security and Medicare) by restructuring as an S-corp and starting to pay yourself W2 salary, as implied by @Daniel Hyman, is significantly undermined by the new tax reform.

Only you can decide.A good analogy is a personal trainer.

A lot of people leaving in the case of CA does not imply that the state population is decreasing (CA population is still increasing in greater numbers than all but 2 states).If I were not a landlord I would be all for many people leaving the county that I live. 

We tax pros mostly agree that the law implies the definition of trade and business under Section 162 of the code.