Unfortunately, without retirement accounts, I won’t have enough reserves when considering the purchase of numerous properties to hit a short term goal of min $1500/month cash flow. 

A turnkey or newer home with little need for repairs and maintenance can be lower risk, but also slower reward.

The fellow turned out to be a disaster: passed numerous bad checks, did not make them good, finally had to go to court to have him removed from the property by court order.

If this is an equity investment, there's also a problem in that rent minus payment does not equal a numerator to properly calculate any kind of return. 

My experience as a Physical Therapist having a mentor is crucial to personal development, and being a mentor is very rewarding.

Less risk, probably more reward, allowing more informed decisions.In the mean time I've installed a nice fully equipped home gym in my home and have been working on improving my physical fitness, and have also been increasing my outdoor grilling skills (with the Covid thing, I've temporarily given up restaurants--I do miss Olive Garden though).So instead of slacking, I've simply focused a little more on lifestyle.Good Luck!  

Just got off the phone this morning trying to figure out who my new PM is after they’ve rotated out numerous times now.

Just to throw my input on this thread, I managed numerous units for short term rentals well before the Airbnb era. 

It is in good condition and she says just needs a new roof (I’d still get it inspected), and given the closest comps in the area are about $260k at minimum, I inquired about buying it from her (for both the discount and the immediate equity of about $35k-$40k).This would be my first long-distance rental property (and my first property in general), so I’ve run the analysis numerous times and just can’t seem to make the numbers work (even with the discounted price).

At the very least she's doing more, learning more and has become more valuable as an employee because she offers more value and in the event her employer doesn't reward her once Corona slows down and life becomes more like it once was I'm confident another business looking to hire would.