They never have to deal with entitled high-maintenance tenants who've only ever lived with mom and dad; tracking down late rent from the same person over and over; crossing town for showings only for the person to flake; going through the work of calling all references for multiple co-tenants only for the accepted applicants to back out 30 minutes before your holding deposit meeting--after you've crossed town to meet them and gone to Kinko's to print all the documents; tenants who give you stink eye while you're in their apartment to fix a light switch (only 2 hours after they called to report needing a repair even though you live across town), etc. etc. etc.  

This can often lead to more flexibility and better returns, especially if financing is involved in real estate transactions.

There are no agents involved so no commissions paid out.

I am highly highly intrigued on getting involved with bigger pockets and in the real estate community.

You could attempt the BRRRRRRRRR route but odds are you don’t want to take your eye off of your PhD job :)

I strongly advise you consider the risks before getting involved. 

That hurt my eyes and head to try to read that.

As an investor, I don't need a license because all of the transactions I'm involved with are my own and, as you know, you can do what you want with your own properties.Great that you're making an effort to learn the rules before getting into trouble.

I was informed by a neighbor that as recently as a couple years ago, the one house was basically a brothel, it's been cleaned up once the neighbors got the police involved but I imagine the tenants aren't the best.   

I still do my due diligence up front and am involved in the big decisions, but I'm not a part of the day-to-day operations.