(I know, I know, it's not sexy to talk appreciation, but that's where the big gains are when you hold long enough.)All that said, anything that gets you excited about real estate and gets you engaged is a good thing, so if this is the thing that lights your fire, go for it. 

Not all areas are equaling appealing from a buy and hold lens.

Hold on the Hilton Head.

They need to be around 60 cents on the dollar ARV.Go to local investor/BP meetups and network with buyers of W.S. properties, these are typically Fix N Flipper's, Local Contractors, or just a buy and hold investor looking for a great deal that they can reno and keep.If you don't want to deal with the dispo portion of it at all, you can network with other investors that focus specifically on the Dispo.

Where is a good place to buy and hold a rental property?

Just do your homework and call around.The legal and ethical requirements in selling your own property (whether you are listing it or not) are extremely heightened and everyone will hold you to an incredibly high level; that goes for flips or rentals.

Is Syracuse, NY a good place to begin my buy and hold portfolio?

It seems the return is great on SFHs but inefficient in terms of scalingI don't envision myself one day owning hundreds of SFH but I'm interested to hear what you'd do in this situation: Continue to purchase good SFHs and hold?

If you plan on holding it long term that would be a different story, but for a short-term hold it could hurt you.

The holder of the note makes no real difference; in Jane's case, it might be more advantageous to her to hold the note than sell outright depending on how she can absorb the sale from a tax perspective; in your case you don't have enough income to do a conventional loan so getting a seller carry can give you more properties.