My interest in real estate came from a desire to have stability and time/financial freedom.

A lot would have to go right for them to be able to help.  

It's usually a very bad idea to go into business with friends or family. 

If you have a newer home that rarely requires maintenance, a markup fee and low management fees may be the way to go.

If you need to go there in a day can you?

.- Generally landlord-friendly state, no rent control- Secure government jobs/contracts make the real estate market much more resilient to recessions / major corrections- 15-minute drive to the Capitol of the United States- 4 Seasons- 15-minute drive to Arlington, Virginia (Amazon Headquarters 2 ((2017 announced, 2030 is bringing 25,000 new high-paying    jobs to the area)), Boeing Headquarters (2022), Microsoft Headquarters (2021), CoStar Headquarters (2024), Bloomberg    Headquarters (2017 expanded), Deloitte, and the list goes on)Thesis:Although more companies continue to go back to the office, there will be a shift toward a good amount of workers being able to be in hybrid roles.

Those willing to go beyond that could be good partners for real estate investors.Traditional banks/Local Banks and non-bank lenders - If they are a portfolio lender, meaning they actually hold on to the loan and don't just collect your payment, then they have the ability to be flexible.

So I decided to go to my listing every day and change little things (upload a new picture, switch the order of the pictures, change the title of the property, add more or different info in the about section and edit price) The next day, we went from 0 bookings in January to 71% occupancy! 

So relying on 1, 3, 5 mile radius can be misleading because circles can be sloppy.You also have to go on rent comps.  

I did a "blind" assessment where I paid/reimbursed a close family friend to go in as a guest because there were a lot of details I wasn't privy to- and wanted to understand (the whole experience and process from the guest perspective from the initial inquiry, emails, etc.).They shared the email communications (some of which was glitchy or not quite as good as what I'd expect, or told me of delays in receiving responses).