I joined this community mostly because I really want to learn and engage in the field.

I am a newbie to real estate investing, but I am very excited to start out in this field.

Just for general knowledge about the real estate field?

I would not want to do it forever, but I thought it might be a smart springboard to help me move toward my goal of full-time investing.While I would love to be a broker and make more money for my time, I have not the slightest idea of how to get started in that field, nor do I have any connections in it like I do in property management.

I've always wanted to get into this career field, but have yet to acquire any experience.

Most do your monthly rent collection, prepare an owners statement, rent vacant units (usually for a fee) , screen tenants, field all tenant calls and send out repairmen up to the amount you authorize.  

I'm a professor and starting over as a kindergardener in a new field is no fun.

Once you become a knowledgeable investor, then maybe think about branching out to get licensed in one of those other fields (But, only if that license will enhance your business).

I'm asking the professionals in each field for advice on what would be a higher yield passive investment I can start focusing on to enable us to enjoy a year+ abroad.    

The IRS has seemed to be pretty mum on this type of a transaction since Swanson was decided in 1996, I would think that if they saw this is as an abusive practice, we would have heard some anecdotes about negative audit results, something in a field manual, etc.