Good luck, you got natural skills.

I have a great job but am tired of having to physically be present for every $/hour and don't want to work like this for the next 30 years waiting for cancer to take me.Am hoping to meet good people and learn as much as possible so I have the tools to start making this passive income a reality sooner than later.    

You will likely need to provide the following; separate exterior access, fire insulation between units, egress windows in sleeping rooms, minimum natural light area, minimum headroom.   

This is a career change for me as declining health (cancer survivor with ongoing complications) may cause me to need to have a job with greater flexibility.

I also like to see some equity appear after the rehab without cancerous neighborhoods bringing down the value.  

The Marcellus Shale Natural Gas boom will make Philadelphia the primary source for exporting and importing natural gas, especially as natural gas continues to grow, surpassing coal, as a cleaner and cheaper energy source.

I am definitely not somebody to do something impulsive, so I am setting my goal as to purchase a property by the end of the year more as a way to check my natural over-analysis than to satisfy a need to do it now.

In my market, it's all natural gas, so it gets expensive to re-pipe in order to handle the higher BTU if the existing location isn't near a larger gas line already...

I'm naturally extremely impatient so that's fine for now.   

There are groups out there that offer mentoring and things of that nature.