Dont be that property that's listed with subpar finishes, terrible pictures, or bad staging. 

Great communication doesn't make up for a terrible space, but it goes a long way to alleviate any issue that might crop up.

Flipping, short term rentals, tax liens, etc. are all great strategies if you are good at them and terrible strategies if you are not.

Heloc rates are terrible right now even if you have a low first mortgage the blended rate is usually higher than a simple refinance. 

When my wife's mom's husband passed away, their home was in terrible shape.

I don't like to think about all the terrible things that could happen, but there's lots of exposure there. 

i was thinking of cashing out, but my problem is NJ has become a terrible state to invest in.  

On the flip side, there's the people who sell turnkey, real estate agents/brokers, PMs, guru's on here that promise the world but deliver terribly.

It isn't terribly burdensome, just a bit of a hassle.

It's definitely not a terrible idea to own real estate outside of a retirement account so you can take advantage of all the tax benefits, especially using the depreciation to reduce your taxable income from a w-2 job.