@Kyle MitchellGot it, I think if you're relatively hands-on (20+ hours per week), you'd be in a good position to something on the smaller end of commercial.

I spent nearly a year and a half chasing REO's and bagged three.

@Justin Y.If to you "tax shelter" means any method of reducing taxable income, then you may be focused on the wrong reason to invest in residential rental real estate.There are three advantages to investing in rental property:  Appreciation, Cash flow, and Tax benefits. 

And, in the end, sell them.I take care of property management, finding tenants, signing contracts with them, maintenance, repairs, etc.We split everything 50/50, ownership, mortgage, expenses, net cash flow, amortization, capital gains, ...Now there are three points specifically that cause me some headache.

However, if the agents feel the buyer is not serious enough they are not going to spend hours & hours working with that individual either.

A few thoughts, though:On mine, there are three drawbacks.1.

I would keep the Community Bulletin board for community wide announcements -- like the pool hours or the parking lot is being resurfaced on this day.

another vote for @Dawn BrenengenI don't live in Raleigh, nor invest there, yet somehow she has found ways to help me in my market (an hour south) over and over again.

The latest thing was the upper tenant was outside so they signed a parcel for the lower unit to try once again to be good neighbors, held the package for an hour and then gave it to the lower tenant, to which they really got yelled out at.  

It is a townhouse that shares walls with three other units.