He takes random days off without notice and can be found biking or fishing when he should be working. 

@Shawn Bass - if it is built as 2 duplexes I don't know why that would be a problem. 

I just don't want to look like a fish out of water when I make my first offer.Any help, advice, or guidance would be much appreciated!!

It focuses on choosing your tenant then the house.Being a landlord is similar to being a fisherman you have to know what fish you going after and then you put the right bait on the hook and you fish in the right places in the tenants will appear because you have what they want..Read my paper and read about how to choose your tenant type.

I am/was a very small fish but you could buy anything and rent it out on closing day for about double the payment.

We enjoy the local college sports (season tickets to basketball and football), travel, hiking, snorkel/SCUBA, fishing.  

There are massive fishing tournaments on the lake hosted at a marina next door.

I have always wanted a place near the beach in FL for fishing but this was always the reason that held me back.

Is it a place that you grew up vacationing, that you used to live near, some niche hobby that has a travel/tourism element (ice fishing, hiking National Parks that aren't the 6 that everyone knows, motorcycle rallies, etc.), or some other specific knowledge that would give you an unfair advantage over other investors?

CFPs should be a different kettle of fish, as real estate is covered in the basic courses, and there were questions on the CFP exam about real estate.