You don't need to save up $100K or quit your job today in order to become a successful investor. 

I'm doing quite a bit myself but the cast iron part is a job bigger than I can handle.Any recommendaitons for rough-in plumbers in NJ and willing to travel about 15 miles outside of Newark?

A client of mine recently invested there and raves aboutt the ease of finding solid contractors who stick to the budget.One piece of advice: before jumping into any market, spend time understanding the local economy, demand drivers (like job growth and population trends), and the landloard laws.

That is my day job.

Can they be more passive than having a 9-5 job?

STR it will cost you big.this isn't a difficult job depending on the fridge location.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.

No one checks the maintenance crew to see if the did a good job (as far as I can tell, their in house folks miss stuff). 

well thats part of the job  checking out your collateral.. :)  

Quote from @Jonathan Grzeszczyk: Soon I am taking a job with a wholesaling company on the acquisition side of the deal.