I have my primary home that I Airbnb occasionally (both a private room and the entire home) and I just bought a full-time out-of-state SFH to be a full-time rental. 

He & I both use the storage shed on my property & he mows the grass (usually - I do it occasionally).

We're very active and are constantly marketing for off market, below market value properties, generally SFR, occasionally 2-4 units.

Then using that money for 2 residences.I have a decent job and would not be difficult to cover a second residence on my own, so I have considered doing this. 30 year loan would be ok.I have also been looking at older unloved homes in the 25-50000 range and getting an in house loan at the bank, problem with that is for the 5 years financed no real posative cash flow but after that they would be mine and could recoup funds.I may even hang my shingle out and see if i can find a no money down or two.Although I want to buy and hold I am not against an occasional flip for the right motivation.I would hope to have found my first property w/in the next 90 days, we will see.I would love to hear any and all opinions.Would love to hear from those of ya in idaho and texas esp and if in the central texas area maybe meet up and chat a bit.Thank you

I would say that it could be a benefit to operate as an agent and invest as well for many reasons, one reason being that because you would potentially be very in tune with your markets as you would have exposure day in and day out, this could help hone your ability to realize value and develop resources and capabilities because of your exposure as an agent.I would also caution you to be careful that you wouldn't blur the lines between the two (agent and investor). 

It also just may be a standard practice of your insurer whenever a property is purchased as an REO or at auction ... or if the house is over a certain age (here that age is usually pre 1950s and occasionally pre-1960s)

Even with the property managers, and we have great ones, we personally inspect occasionally, take a weekend and fix issues we find before they become problems that we'd be paying repairmen to handle.

I'll occasionally bid on the courthouse steps, but have never won anything there either.

It is true that occasionally the POS has an item or two that seems a bit heavy-handed, and sometimes you can "negotiate" with the inspector. 

We could use some reliable help fixing items that occasionally come up at our residential rental property.