Even if you have a "perfect" house, it will not rent if not priced correctly, OR you will be overrented (yes that is a thing) meaning you are leaving money on the table.Marketing is also big - Again depending on the area you want to be on as many relevant channels as possible - Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, Zillow, Furnished Finder etc and have a direct booking strategy for repeat guests to cut out the middle men.Best of luck!

Scott,  Colusa is a small / Smallish farming community in the Central Valley of CA about 60 miles north of Sacramento and smack dab in the middle of the valley..

That itself is already interest income to the lender.There's extremely sophisticated bond agency review that review everything to the point that the risk rating for every apartment is known before the CLO is being sold.my opinion: The more I researched about this the more I understand this is like tug of war between debt equity orchestrated and financed by wall street banks  vs  common people LP equity in the middle. 

If that isn't feasible for his situation I'd recommend looking for rentals in the southern/middle part of the country where price points are much easier and the laws are landlord friendly.

I'm past middle age and I would like to purchase a duplex to house hack in a better neighborhood.

It seems there are a lot of low/middle class people trying to invest in real estate but the reality is that RE is a rich person's game.

Big thoughts are I'm 43 and can retire from my W2 career (Middle school principal) in 10 years, and I want my investments ready and waiting on me then.

Middle of city, shovel ready with electric/water/sewer/roads/entrances, etc. 

I was looking at REI with my partner who has a great credit score - 750+, but looks like lenders would be looking at the lowest middle score which would be mine - 640.

But I would recommend cutting out the middle men.