@Bill Hampton Thanks for those tips to help me get started. 

I need someone skilled in understanding property investment as well as properly filing taxes for a small healthcare business. 

Let's pretend it's a generous 1 yr CD with no early withdrawal penalty.7 year CD: 2% and penalized six months of interest if you pull funds out early.If you pull funds out after exactly 12 months, it's a wash:1 yr CD @ 1 yr: $10k * 1% = $100.7 yr CD @ 1 yr with penalty: $10k * 2% - [$10k * 2% / 2] = $100.After 18 months...1 yr CD @ 1.5 years: $10k * 1% * 1.5 years = $150.7 yr CD @ 1.5 years and penalized six months of interest: $10k * 2% * 1.5 years - [$10k * 2% * 0.5 years] = $200.So there's your low risk / low reward "CD hacking" tip of the day to get rich by earning an extra $50 on $10k after a year and a half.

Be very careful on who you work with many sfhs don't work in terms of cashflow in this sellers market especially if you are going turnkey.

I find it hard to find reliable real estate information from friends: many do not care so much about real estate, and those who did had relatively dated information (telling me to buy in Austin TX or Phoenix AZ after the appreciation had come).Sales people cannot give you impartial advise indeed, so you have to skip the sales talk and look at what impartial sources tell you.

The TLDR version is be very careful: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/12/23/investing-out-of-state-essential-items-to-vet/

I am thinking maybe the owner would be happy to receive some rental income and instead of it being a money pit because he has to pay some employees such as a manager and gardener to take care of it while it sits empty and for sale. 

Use a 403b, an IRA, a health savings account, if you have kids CESAs, if married do the same for the spouse. 

I ran a multi million dollar health club in Irvine, Orange County but felt I never had time to pursue my real estate dream, needing to be at work for over 55 hours a week most weeks.

So looking to get this taken care of as soon as possible.