Investing close to home allows you to gain hands-on experience, learn the ropes, and be more involved in the day-to-day.

We also have this specific property listed on FF in hopes of gaining a 3 month + rental through the winter.

Be mindful of short-term capital gains tax, as profits from flips held for less than a year are taxed as ordinary income, and frequent flipping may result in self-employment taxes.While profits from flips do not qualify for 1031 exchanges (since flips are considered inventory, not investment properties), you can minimize your tax burden by deducting allowable expenses like renovation costs, loan interest, and holding expenses.If you're considering diversifying into rentals, explore opportunities to benefit from long-term tax advantages such as depreciation and lower long-term capital gains rates.

I used to cold call, skip trace, send mailers, and don't get me wrong you will get success from it like James above, however as you gain experience you will realize you need deals faster, easier, cheaper, and with more "meat on the bones" and in order to have that you need constant deals flowing through your eco system and that's hard to do with mailers, cold calls, VA's and skip tracing etc.

Beefing up your portfolio holdings  (even if your individual ownership in the deal is modest) is one of the best ways to gain credibility.

And it has been gaining recognition as a vibrant, desirable place to live, especially for younger professionals and first-time buyers. 

And you would get to indefinitely defer all tax on the gain from the sale.

You can read all the books, attend all the seminars and gain great insight from others, however nothing teaches like real life experience.

Central Kentucky, in particular, has benefited from Lexington's growth, with many people commuting from outside the city for work.

- If so, 1031 into something bigger and easier to manage and then when you pass, the inheritor receives your property(s) at a stepped up basis - subject to Inheritance Tax limits.Otherwise, sell one every 1-5 years when you need the cash, so you can plan expenses to offset capital gains.