While there's potentially more upside with equity, debt and preferred equity deals feel more stable.There's actually quite a few players in the game at this point.Fundrise.com has just launched two new "eREITs" that provides diversification among several properties.RealtyShares.com is another good one.  

Should anyone from the South Texas area wish to arrange a Cash Flow 101 game, I would gladly be willing to setup a game at a local venue to chat and learn about our investing habits.  

If you are ONLY getting $4k/yr long term historical average on a $200k house, that is 2%, so definitely not the right time or place to play that game. coastal SoCal historical average (going back 40 years) is around 6% ... with 20% down (5-to-1 leverage) that is a 30% average annual return; that is the example I use because that is the example I know, not sure about Oregon but suspect it may be better than the 2% in your example. 

Hello, my name is Morgan my husband and I are new to the real estate game and are currently trying to find a good " investor friendly" title company.

In the short term, pay what whatever the loan servicer says you need to pay is.Medium term, a QWR is a whole different ball game and you are at least getting things in writing and working with compliance people, not useless call center idiots. 

If you're curious I can share the white papers he wrote on this that I found on the Internet. 

PM me if you are game and also what area of JAX are you focusing in on? 

However, I'm more buying from "Learn the rules first before playing the game."

Yet despite that, investors still demand and receive better oversight and skin in the game.

Don’t get discourage, it truly is a numbers game.