Simple preference aside, renting is easier and scales more easily than flipping.  

Buying a home is a major decision and not something that can be undone easily so you don't want to feel rushed.

On the other, you are in a very dangerous and vulnerable position and, if you don't have much cash in the first place, you can easily be wiped out.

That is less than 1$ a square foot and could easily be built to fit almost any business. 

@Jeffrey WolffNot an attorney but I have been told this would get pierced very easily as the LLC is not being run like a separate business.

You should be able to easily generate 10% annually by lending your money out or purchasing some type of note (there are a lot of options). 

Having a knife easily accessible can save your life.If you do carry a gun, make sure it's accessible at all times.

Also, the transaction history in PropertyRadar only includes voluntary liens and transfers - it does not include involuntary liens (mechanics liens, tax liens, judgements), so you will still need to research those regardless.As @David Mitchell said, the best answer is to educate yourself on the title search process, and then you can easily verify the loan positions in PropertyRadar and check for involuntary liens using your local county recorder (often online).Note that even if you pay the title company $150-250 for a title search, those searches do not come with a guarantees and the title companies themselves do make mistakes - thus the reason for title insurance.

You can easily end up with the building equivalent of a beautiful suit coat but no pants. 

So yes, the place is small and the area isn't that great, but it's increased in value almost $250K over the past four years so I'm ready to sell and walk away.Elizabeth Colegrove , I guess I'm "risk averse", and despite a > 800 FICA credit score, I'm not sure how easily I'd get a reasonable mortgage since I'm hoping to use the rental income to replace my W2 income within  couple of years.My basic goal is to purchase enough units (1-2) within two years to cover my day to day expenses until I start drawing from my retirement accounts and portfolio in my mid 60s (20 years from now.)