@JD MartinWe were lucky enough to buy a townhouse (part of a duplex) in a very desirable neighborhood 10 minutes walk from St Pete's Beach Dr. 

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I hope you are able to grow your business as large as you desire and achieve the success of your dreams.

We own our heavily-renovated, very nice 2BR/2BA with detached office space in the highly-desirable neighborhood of Silver Lake.

We could hold on to the property and just let it earn a little every month, that is until the tenant moves out and we'd have to do a rehab anyway.

@James Moen below are important points to know about self managing:Cross-reference Rabbu and Airdna to get an idea of what property can potentially earn, shooting for at least a 20% cash on cash returnResearch properties near yours on Airbnb to figure out what amenities sell and what you can add to stand outHire a professional photographerImplement a pricing tool like Wheelhouse, Pricelabs, or Beyond Pricing.

My wife and I earn are W-2 employees under our property management company and we earn commissions from sales.

I think you could do better in your market (Raleigh) with a residential MF (duplex to quad) because it would have similar appreciation, have better cash flow, you would still be able to leverage all of the advantages of you being local (self manage if desired, able to know the market, be able to perform heroics if necessary).As for cash flow, I consistently argue that I value it less than value add and appreciation and this is why: Value add and appreciation allow me to extract my investment to leverage it quicker than cash flow would allow. 

I have a good agent that I've used awhile and he earns his commission totally and I don't wish to give him up even if I do go "active".