You (and your family) have to be comfortable with the added risk of leveraging your primary residence, but I think it is a good route to go.

Once you have the license you can decide to activate or stay inactive.

Hello,  we used to invest in FL,  my only suggestion is to stay way from 55+ properties.Many cities/regions specialize in retirement communities.  

I just bought a beautiful home and, while I dont need it, would like to move in two working professionals into the two vacant rooms while I lived I stayed in the master. 

Also, I feel more comfortable renting out, due to my landlording experience.Was curious if anyone with the neighborhood experience could tell whats the activity like in the area - more buy and hold, or flips?

Most books/podcast/arcticles I read day to stay away from such purchases.

I am tempted to buy myself a nice house so I can live in comfort but I when decided to invest in real estate more than a year ago I wrote myself a why statement.

However, the underlying financing stays in the name of the person I bought the property from. 

On one hand you if you feel comfortable you would be able to collect the broker compensation on each deal minus your expenses.

I've yet to stay with the same property manager that I've started out with in a new market, but I've eventually found the right one.