But when I took time to think about it, it occurred to me that agents make way less money on a rental than they do on sale, which would explain why they might not devote much time to helping rent a place.

Do you guys think this is attainable as a small gig on the side or does this need someone to devote full attention to be truly successful.

As a rule of thumb, I like to allocate about $250 per month to this ($3000 per year), knowing that most months I do not experience the any repairs, but once every now and then I have to devote a few thousand to a renovation or upgrade. 

It sounds like you've devoted a fair amount of time to educating yourself (kudos on that, by the way - educating yourself will be the best investment you could make).

You should write down your daily schedule to see how many hours you devote to each category.

If it is high, devoting a little more makes a big difference.  

At this point, i have devoted a substantial amount of time to real estate investing and feel that i have a fairly decent understanding of the basics.  

Personal use also includes time spent at your place by another party under a reciprocal sharing arrangement (“I use your place in exchange for you using my place”) whether the other party pays market rent or not.Days devoted principally to repairs and maintenance are considered days of vacancy and are disregarded, even if family members are present while you work away.The tax drillVacation homes in this category are treated as personal residences for federal income tax purposes.

Since we are currently operating a small business, we have the flexibility of time during the day to devote to real estate investing and are familiar with business deductions.  

@Gary Waddle When starting out it is a good idea to decide what kind of property and tenant you are willing to deal with; and how much time you want to devote.