... as if landlords don't have their own lives on the line, their own bills to pay, their own business to run, their own needs wants and desires which are no less legitimate than their tenant's?

Yes, use your current properties as leverage, though I understand the desire to hang onto something with a lot of equity for safekeeping.

You WANT sellers to make a mistake, because they stay on the market and become less desirable.

For what it’s worth what I have noticed is the wealthier and more successful the person the less is his/her desire to retire because they love their professions and those professions have long outlived their utility as a mechanism of paying bills!

Investing in a community without some desire to improve that community is not a very worthy strategy, IMHO.

Values are coming up and once covid is behind us I see the Haynies Corner area homes just going up in value as the houses are fixed up one by one the desirable area is expanding out.

I’ve been seeing the development and have been hesitant on the area because Oxon Hill has not been an area that was historically desirable for investment.

So I’ve been trying to figure out what are the most desirable Zipcodes in the city.

There are some others but that will depend on your price-point and desired commute.Best of luck to you moving forward!

-Our current home is probably worth around $500 - $550 (with current market conditions)    -We wanted to focus on having no debt, but now we also aren't left with a lot of capital and very little in retirement (hence our desire to look into real estate to help build wealth and recurring income).