I work in the tech industry and my husband is in between jobs.We currently own one rental (purchased in 2010) alongside our primary home.

If you're both new, it will be a little more difficult the first time but probably a relationship worth the initial hiccups.  

Even with the hiccups it was great.

Things rolling pretty smooth, had one hiccup.

Have you considered investing directly alongside the cash of an experienced buy and hold investor in a cash flow property with equity and cash flow split pro-rata?

I am building my management business alongside my holding business.

We buy property out of state, but during initial work post-closing, we're always there working alongside contractors, making sure everything is running smoothly and on-time.

It didn't dent it...at least I never heard anything about it LA is a big economy and will absorb minor economic hiccups....But within LA  county there are cities like Long Beach that are bigger better stronger economies would engulf you.  

We need investors that are willing to walk alongside tenants and to demonstrate and encourage positive change/behavior. 

I figure real estate investing will be a lot like planning for a long race-doing as much research ahead of time as I can, finding a community people to train alongside (especially those who are better than me at this), planning a response in advance for various things that can go wrong so they don't force me to drop out, and most importantly, showing up at the starting line and taking the first step, knowing that it probably won't go perfectly, but if I keep a positive attitude, I'll eventually cross that finish line and have a great time getting there.I've been listening to the podcast since last fall and am so grateful for the wealth of information I have gleaned from the podcast and from being a lurker in the forums.