Forget the NFL, NBA, MBL, NCAA, PGA for anything but basic conversation knowledge until you can afford Super Bowl and World Series tickets out of pocket change.Get multiple dash cameras and learn to operate for short takes of properties you pass, with your recorded voice for notes.

Was using Google voice,  got a call to look at a property, and when I showed up there was a Code Enforcement vehicle full of my signs at the curb and an Officer with a $500 ticket.

Its a 13 hour drive and $400-600 plane ticket depending on the date.

This is the ticket to success, have the experts in their field work for you!!

I really want to buy around the world plane tickets for our family and spend a year living out of backpacks but a small voice tells me I should invest and wait until we build some passive income. :-) I'm spending every free moment educating myself because soon that 45 day clock will be clicking before we need to indentify a new property.  

At any rate, I would invest in Northern California as you are an hour flight or an 6 hour drive away from your rental.

For those interested in an update; I just got the inspection report - big ticket items:- 30 year old roof, no leaks, but needs replacement soon- deck off the back is small, but needs repalcement- 1-2 cracked windows; I figure best to just replace all- remove & replace hot water heaterThere are other minor upgrades like replacing GFCI outlets, replace the garage door motor, and caulking some minor screw holes in the siding.

First off, if you're set on Section 8 being your ticket to tenants, you could hope for that third bedroom to be too small. 2 bedroom SFH rentals are generally much tougher to find than 3 BR, so people are more willing to look at mobiles as an opportunity to have no shared walls. 

Even tickets to Disneyworld – which is where the PBS reporters apparently got their economic training – have gone up 5% per year for the past decade.

So some of the money from a refinance would need to go to repairs including some big ticket items (roof, heating/cooling, septic).