To qualify for material participation, you generally need to meet either the 500-hour or 100-hour rule.

are you making a trip, or trips, down to Orlando to look at places?

My buy box is a home 5 years or newer, A or B-rated schools in the 200K-400K range that will appreciate over time with someone paying down my debt.

In the end it's my responsibility to forecast any big projects that may happen in the next few years and make sure I'm covered for those.

What type of property are looking to inspect (residential, commercial, distressed, etc.) and what is the intended use of the property?

Also you can check Meetup for local investor groups as well as there are some smaller ones around also.I'd say one of the biggest steps is choose a type of Investing.

Just make sure you have a real investment plan laid out because it doesn't benefit you to pull the trigger just to end up losing money every month or losing the property because the numbers don't work.

Hard to let go of the low interest rate. 

Use this time to save up and educate yourself a little better before making the next purchase.

Also, the owner expressed concerns over the capital gains tax early in the discussion...so I am thinking the opportunity to do vendor financing will help me get a good purchase price and help the vendor with taxes.