There may also be some good inventory hiding in older areas of Fort Myers (Between McGregor and US41) and its not uncommon for some single family homes in that area to have income producing apartments or guest houses.Remember, as you are a finance buyer, you have a bit less leverage with sellers than cash buyers do, so you'll want your offers to be relatively strong in other areas (if you are asking for concessions you are likely not to get an accepted offer on an income producer).

Many loan products also require landlord seasoning of up to 2 years.  

That play is harder to make when you get older, married, etc. 

I would ask your lender if there are seasoning requirements.  

There may be some opportunity in the older sections, but it seems like those are moving relatively quickly as well.  

Maybe some seasoned investors will chime in.   

I have learned about the 50% rule (explained here https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/4454/32123-wha...) and was wondering if any seasoned investors saw a problem with using the saved funds in a highly liquid investment vehicle.for example: I save 50% of my rental income in a separate account to compensate for maintenance and vacancies, and use that money to purchase dividend bearing stock.

I would suggest looking at some of the free guides under the education tab above.I would learn ans much as you can from this gentleman but I do see a conflict of interest in that he is trying to sell you a property and yet one of the most important things to learn is how to evaluate a deal.

Good mix of investors, new and seasoned alike.  

I just called Listsource to ask about how often they update their data and I was told that for real estate it will not be older than 6 months.