Use chattel in place of money, “As good and valuable consideration for this Agreement, Seller accepts a 23’ fishing boat with motor and three boxes of tools as a down payment valued at $12,000.”

Perhaps stage it and don't use fish eye photos.

Sort of like having someone tell you how to fish as opposed to you getting a pole and going fishin'.The end is, if you have $25K + to spend and are close to retirement (have small amount of time left), and are willing to commit full time as an investor, they can be good. 

We're in an environment where rates are almost certainly not going down...so that's not a good sign for these types of investments.A perfect example of what could go wrong with a mid to high yielding stock is with Kinder Morgan (KMI).  

My only concern is where they would be in a rental environment that the units you would buy at Home Depot or a Lowe's may not hold up to the rigors of rental use.

I came from that type of sales environment, which wasn't for me, but maybe I can find a way to network and develop my own stream of business without the sales pressure of commercial firm. 

Under the current tax environment, capital gain tax rate is always lower than ordinary income tax rate.

Unless you find a real hidden gem, you have to go into it knowing and accepting the environment you are getting into. 

Creating an environment where people WANT to be successful is key.

It's a much different market and working environment, one of which I am very familiar with.