Although I'm new to real estate I'm hoping that my analytical skills and creative problem solving experience can be leveraged successfully in this arena, especially with respect to buy-and-hold deals for income replacement. 

@Joshua Hartman great question, now it is definitely a great time to be in real estate and in some markets there could be more investors than in others, but opportunities can be found even in those markets it all depends on your skills and willingness to stand out from the rest.

That's an interesting thought @Richard Weinberg, I shudder to think that that's the case, but then these days seems that companies are unwilling to examine the conflicts of interest they are creating when they attempt to enter horizontals/verticals to continue providing growth to the market!

I do have a plumber in my network that may be helpful in at least bouncing around ideas, but I suspect you'd want someone with more of an engineering skill-set to evaluate options for that. 

Real estate is a team sport, so you have to always surround yourself with the right partners/team members that have the skills set complementary to you and the goals that are aligned with yours! 

But to be honest with you, If you do not learn some construction skills, your progress will be a lot slower as contractors will be raking in the majority of your profits.Get a pro account on this site so you can access the PRO only blogs and avoid all the goofy stuff that can confuse you sometimes.Take NO advice from salesmen such as realtors/brokers.

If you live near an area where someone is building a large manufacturing complex that will require many workers of all different skill levels, your area is going to be great no matter what is going on around the rest of the country.A lot of people think we're "due" for another recession.

You can add value with sweat equity, your existing relationships, soft skills,and perhaps just pay for it.

Having an old rental with a lot of kids will crack walls so will extreme temperature changes .it can look good and blend out well if you have the skill and patience .

It's extremely hard to find good skilled labor.