I'm trying to play catch up and trying to see if I can still retire early or at least earlier than is the norm lol.

Catch-22.

Catch 22 I guess.  

  :)  Nice catch in your pic too by the way!

The fact that your jumping in looking to learn is step one, good for you, just keep reading and raising your interest in RE then as you become more familiar with the game and meet people with the same interests you'll find niches and areas that catch you're attention.

The catch is that 80% of the land is in a flood zone (marked AE, AE Flood Way on a FEMA map).

Another suggestion is to have the tenants pay some of it and have them catch on.

I mean, I might not know about that specific property, but in general, what are the debt catches?

Over the long haul - the world will begin to catch on the long con which is the Federal Reserves "QE Infinity" policy - which fundamentally de-values the dollar against fixed supply stores of value such as gold, and is basically an impossible situation for the Fed to get out of (especially since the Fed has proven they are no longer an "independent" institution). 

That way, you have the national search but also you can catch local cases that haven't closed yet (like this person's pending eviction).