I'm 59 have a great job in an industry that I'm burned out in.

And of those who have the money to invest they believe the stories/stereotype phrases of the awful tenants who trash the place, getting called at 2 AM to unclog a toilet, etc. and because of this have zero interest in investing in RE.For me, I'm one of those people who HATED working for other people in a 9-5 (I got let go from my job writing sales letters at a media company) but I also realized I needed to make money and not burn through it and so I decided to look into real estate. 

I just don't have the energy to convince people otherwise, and I've gotten to the point where I don't care either. 

Nationally, it cost $888 a month more to buy an entry-level single-family home than to rent it, says the Journal, citing September data from John Burns Real Estate Consulting.

They'll also force you to put around 5k EMD down and won't care at all if your hard money lender doesn't come through, they'll keep your EMD and have no problem burning a relationship over $.You need to make sure that you ARE NOT pressured into buying!! 

For instance, if you find a duplex that's in a good STR area, you could live in one unit while STR'ing the other unit (this would make your management of the STR much easier, as well--since you would be living right next door).If you wanted to really max out your cashflow, get a duplex that has 3-4 bedrooms in one unit (where you'll live and rent out the rooms to long term tenants), and the other unit is a STR...doing that approach might really help your numbers pencil out.  ...you could do similar strategies with a triplex, fourplex, etc...If you're highly motivated and have the time and energy to do something like that, it would not only give you all the benefits of househacking that I described in my previous post, but it would also give you an education in STR (which is a different beast).However, I personally would not try this strategy if I didn't know for sure that the STR unit could also cashflow as a MTR or LTR if needed.

Especially if there is an opportunity for tax incentives IE. with energy efficient furnaces, et al.

One just burned down... 

What's the smell supposedly like, specifically, is it a burning oil kind of smell?

@Amit ChaudhariLooking at those numbers, you might be missing some key things: management expense, energy, water, sewer, garbage, and fix up costs.You mention a couple of things that set off my spidey sense:"College town", "number of rooms"...