My Why became:  I invest in real estate to provide a predicable and sustainable income to allow me to retire at a robust standard of living without the fear of running out of money!  

On the other hand, things seem to be more stable.

I retired from 25 years of nursing and began to do this full time with my wife Sue.

My favorite seller is a retiring REI that has 100% equity. 

I also have some retired people who are unaffected.

I am retired so I do not have earned income but good credit score. 

We may end up finding ourselves in the area once I retire from the military.  

Stable job market over there with Amazon being in town.

But, you don't lose 24% of your tax-sheltered retirement capital to taxes on the front-end.Tons of info here on BP on the topic.

I've floated across careers/jobs in new home construction (worked in the structural warranty side), fitness, and travel - I've always loved to learn and grow myself, but I have not built much for "retirement" (though not sure I will ever retire, I love entrepreneurship), was recently divorced and I'm around 40 - so I have a road ahead and all...so definitely want to grow some decent rental income within 10-15 years, but I was considering fix and flip for not only diversity, but it sounds like fix and flip might be a great way to get some capital, which I don't really have at this point.