Then, its investment potential can be enjoyed by YOU!

Hypothetically, my wife enjoys real estate so she works more than 750 hours in our personal investment real estate which would qualify her as a "real estate professional" which designation provides unlimited passive losses to ordinary income.

I'll also add that the right clients will enjoy working with you and not someone who's a social butterfly, so don't let that stop you. 

Empty Nester pursuing other RE interest and hobbies..My honeybees will be here this month..Enjoying this Season!!!

@Katherine Sarrettethe deals you are going to find that are going to pay off the best are the ones you find driving neighborhoodsmap you out a area- spend some time looking for the properties that are vacant- they may be foreclosed and not even hit the mls or other investors have seen yetdo a quick search through the county to see what they areset you up a good data base and keep track of neighborhoods and there rents or purchase prices enjoy

I'm also concerned that you won't enjoy much appreciation.

I guess they enjoy empty rentals...Find another one quick- so it's not on your credit for the next landlord to see.

This is my favorite option so far, however they appear to be extremely hard to find near Annapolis and the few that are on the market are priced in the $600K-$900K region.Cons: If I did find one, it would probably require me to drive 30-45 minutes to commute to work and enjoy none of the benefits of living close to Annapolis. 

If you enjoy making lots of money I'd suggest the DC area. 10 of the richest 20 counties in America are in the area which means often that even mediocre jobs have good pay.Now we do have higher taxes, and high housing costs...but the taxes are easy to deal with when you make a lot, and the housing is actually pretty reasonable when measured against incomes and is thus more affordable than places like Boston, NYC, Seattle.

Enjoy.