Unfortunately, my wife likes properties that eat up our money, whereas I prefer cash-flowing properties. lol

If the seller owns the properties free & clear & owns other properties, he may simply prefer not to cash-out and pay capital gains.

My wife is a licensed agent and I passed the licensing exam though I never went with a broker.If I went all the way managing, including renting it out, signing leases, collecting rent checks, upkeep, repair and maintenance, paying the bills, taxes, insurance, I would do it via a master lease, preferably a NNN lease, and for all intents and purposes, you can act as a landlord, make money on the rents, and not have issues with licensing as you have an interest in the property.

Hi @Nicholas L.I'm hoping to do an 80/20.I could get DP money from the equity of my property BUT I would prefer to save that money for emergencies.

not sure how much involvement would be needed from owner, one of the reason I am preferring built year 1990 or newer to prevent major maintenance

I prefer a construction loan through a bank. 

Preferably one that needs some work, but if cash flow makes sense I'd be interested in a turn key as well.

Believe I'm a real estate guy, and would 100% prefer to have my money in that then stocks, but if you already have some money in 401K I'd tell you to leave it.

I always raise the rent annually (never 20%) and while the tenants complain they get over it and I don't have to interact with them on a daily basis since they don't live upstairs.

A cash-out refi would be the back-up plan, but I’d really prefer to not go that route if I can secure a HELOC instead.