I work for a religious non-profit and am just starting out in real estate investing.My wife and I are about 20 years from retirement and we'd like to have a portfolio of rental properties to augment our income in our later years.

How religiously?

Case in point...several years ago I was awakened at 6:30 in the morning and served papers regarding a lawsuit for unpaid taxes on a property that we didn't even know we owned.

I pay off the balance religiously every month.  

(I have been scouring Realtor.com religiously for a few months now) Another Idea is to buy a duplex in this same price point that way I have intstant cash flow and We could live in one unit, a luxury I WONT have in the fix and flip model.

I am very new to the site but I have been religiously listening to BP podcasts for a year now. 

It will just be a rude awakening later in the loan process.You can also your conventional loan to buy a multi-unit.

My former jobs were as a butcher/manager in the restaurant I own, rehabbing and flipping properties (I had a contractors and real estate agent license) and selling religious goods for a company in Italy (I speak Italian and would sell to churches in the midwest).

I track my stuff religiously now because we seek spec loans pretty frequently.  

And when they moved out they had the carpet steam cleaned ... which prob really awakened the odor.The tenants ended up buying a house about 2 miles away, and the H/W are both gainfully employed with very good local jobs.