I work in tech and have a great job but want to move into passion areas (writing fiction), hence the desire to build passive income. 

My income from my job should allow me to make payments on it if I do not have enough saved up from the rent. 

It is a very active job that takes a decent amount of work and time.What areas are you able to afford (for flipping you really should be working in or around the city you live in to start out)?

According to this article, the region added 3,348 jobs last year which is quite impressive.

Now as we continue to grow it seems like word of mouth is brinign in about as much potential deals, obviously best if we can find earlier but since we have full time jobs the drive for dollars or Direct Mail Marketing not in our wheelhouse yet.

I am highly debating taking a job offer to teach in the San Diego area. 

Based on my research, the greater Phoenix area is not much better than Calif when it comes to the cap rate.I would like to stay within a 2 hour flight distance if I would ever need to make a visit to take care of business being that I still have a day job and time will be a limited resource.

For my day job I work as an Actuary and my primary experiences is in Risk Management, Asset-Liability Management, and Model development - which I hope to translate most of these skills into my real estate investment plan.I am interested in growing long-term wealth through acquiring a portfolio of cash-flowing rentals. 

All of my Mansfield (and surrounding areas) properties are with Alpha & Omega and they do a great job for me.

My largest was financed based off of a helicopter maintenance job I took in Croatia for 7 months which I bought as a beach vacation rental.