My strategy is to buy and hold, and hopefully gain enough passive income to replace earned income at some point.

Explain to them that if the home is selling for 200k, they'll make more than $200k over the lifetime of the note b/c of interest earned.

Can't wait to connect with you all, continue to learn from you and start earning my stripes in the Bmore market so I can give back as much as alive been given.All the best,Emery

Add columns with SKUs or Item numbers, prices, etc... depending on your desired precision.

How do you prepare for this and what strategies do you use to help reduce risk and continue to earn in a bad market?

So unless you are paying them more than enough to make up for what they could have earned on their money PLUS the interest, they are moving backward from an opportunity cost perspective.If the 401k is still in place from a former employer, they probably cannot take a loan.

@Joseph Rath  If you are handy at all you can earn more by doing light repairs on less then ideal rental units then raise the rent, or do small fix and flip.  

Great desirable location. 

Seems like a great option but as a buy and hold investor not sure how I get around the "earned income" requirement... any thoughts or resources in the RI / MA area would be greatly appreciated! 

Any investment earnings should also go back to the IRA.