i saw many properties in union city stay on market forever.

Also we don't see this as our forever home, so there is that. 

If this were a hugely complex/time-consuming renovation or similar that I would need to haul a bunch of my tools down there etc I probably would not jump in as I can't spare that kind of time/effort right now.

I'm still looking at this MHP that has 25 pads and 25 septic systems.  Water wells x 2 are the water supply.  Everything else makes sense, but clearly, I don't want to be wrong.  I like paying experts for their brains...

Of course, this method is a lot more time consuming.

There are still some time consuming things left to finish, namely ripping custom sized doors to size. 

As a first time investor, I would be forever grateful!

Leisure in boom times consumers tend to have lots of excess cash so will splurge on the larger trips out of state or out of the country even.In an economic downturn the opposite tends to hold true.

Extremely difficult and time consuming to save and buy with 100% cash but if you can buy-and-sell some real estate (say through wholesaling), you can have a sizable chunk of cash.

That can be time consuming if you work a 9-5, so stay patient and look for value-add opportunities others missed on the MLS or that rare good deal from a wholesaler.