I think it's a good sign if they are building new office / medical because it shows that there is demand for it.

This will minimize your issues.While we have done just about every type of investment real estate there is known to man for almost 15 year including apartments, student housing, retail, medical office, etc.. in my opinion single family homes in selected markets for buy and hold 3 to 5 years is a good safe bet.

Do they need cash to pay off medical bills, are they trying to send a kid to college, or are they just looking for a stream of retirement income.

They are mostly professionals and students coming into the area for an internship, rotation (medical students, PA students, other healthcare professions), moving to the area, or are here on buisness.

I am not asking for a one-size fits all, magical pill with this post.

@Jacob Lair Some family medical issues have come up that wiped out most of my investing money.  

My first and biggest complaint was the trainer, he was a terrible speaker.My girlfriend is a professional speaker/educator for a medical device company and I am a semi-professional magician/comedian, so I know a thing or two about public speaking.He was late both starting and finishing every day; he was also late for every single break and lunch.And although our trainer was passionate about the material, he was not supportive and had absolutely no apathy for his audience.The concepts they were teaching, often times go against deeply ingrained ideas some of us have held for 25+ years or more and would stir up deep emotions.Whenever a question was asked for more information, he would yell “you don’t need to know the details!”.

We believe these improvements would help get a long term lease from a medical professional in the hospitals next door.

I feel that using thw 2 types of income together I can continue to grow both and have them work together synergetically.While the thought of going full blown RE investor seems alluring and sounds great I think at this point I would be cutting off my nose to spite my face as I have great medical benefits, great 401k with company match as well as other Corp. benefits that I am not ready to give up yet.As an example: by maxing out my company 401k , this year (I believe the max is 17,500) which I am able to do, due to my supplemental RE income) I am able to reduce my taxable income by that much allowing me to be able to claim more passive losses on my Real estate income.

It is not truly standalone but in complex of office buildings primarily medical space.