Fast forward to 2019, still in the corporate world however, I have started appraising now and was approached by a friend of mine to work together and purchase some real estate. 

I personally love Montana and have a lot of family friends who have moved up to the Kalispell/ Flathead Lake area but I don't think she would like how long, cold and grey the winters are haha.Also, I have to consider schools and access to sports etc for my boys since playing sports on top competitive teams was something I thoroughly enjoyed growing up. 

Of the last 3 we bought 2 of them we found from approaching the owners directly, we saved ourselves allot of money by going directly to the title company and cutting out the realtor. 

Of course, this is the leveraged approach as I have a higher risk profile.

That may be a good approach for me. 

Although it really depends on the market, 2% is more likely in the worse neighborhoods, and while those properties would seem to cash flow well, they are also higher risk and take a much more hands on approach.  2% in a nice neighborhood would be less common and probably not on the market long unless there were extenuating circumstances.Of course each city is different.

Ask anyone that has started their own business, 18 hour days, missed kids sports and school plays.

The former president is going around aggressively approaching other members who were at the meeting and complaining.

That helps shape my approach.

That's a valid strategy, but as others have mentioned, you'll want to have some experience and the proper credentials before approaching property owners.