I appreciate all of you & hope to hear from you! 

I would truly appreciate your feedback, suggestions, and advice.

or Do you think its too much of a hassle and not enough profit margins for a property to give net positive gains and possible house appreciation?

It's a great way to increase your net worth and these loans can also be used to pull cash out of a property as it appreciates allowing you to reinvest money into new deals.Happy to connect to discuss further. 

You can never count on appreciation. 

Here is another bit, yes your home will be worth less, because the appreciation rates will fall without agents pushing prices higher.

My wife and I look at a few different things: - Location - City growth (are people moving there, is a big company settling there)- Costs of the property vs. the rental income - Appreciation vs. cash flow (which is sometimes dependent on the city)I'm curious to hear what others have to say!

I always wondered how taking an overall average of RE appreciation and comparing it to anything is a true measure of investment when including good markets with those that are collapsing.

So you need more than a few years of long term normal appreciation to get your money out of it.  

The Tampa Bay market is more of an appreciation play than a cash flow, so I don't really know your ultimate goals with this rental.By the way, I saw that you are here in Sarasota.