I agree it's not a get-rich-quick game, but it is very rewarding monetarily and intrinsically.

Instead, someone else is profiting from those deals.If you’re like me, you put an incredible amount of work and research into finding good properties... you owe it to yourself to complete the process and and reap the rewards!

The house was already on the margin and would have been a tough sell from a reward vs. time invested, but the added list and regulatory attention we felt was just going to add lots of costs to the project....In your case, it sounds like this is more related to the flood plain than anything else.At least here in Des Moines the city ends up taking control of much of the flood plain land simply because of these kinds of issues.. 

It is a calculated risk for them and you need to make sure the rewards outweigh the risks.Bring your financials, financials of the property, comps on the property, your multiple exit strategies.

I'm looking to move from playing the market to real estate investing, but trying to start out in a low risk/low reward property in order to learn the ropes.

If you crave independence, the culture of big brokerages will reward you.

4) And maybe if I make some good headway with this, reward myself with a winter beach vacation around this time next year (the delayed gratification this year is hard when we've just come out of -40 weather!!) 

Short term rentals can be a very profitable and rewarding niche.

@Harley CedoitDepends on the reward.

Hot spec markets can also have a bubble and rents can go down which can cause you to be in a negative situation versus just moving to a cheaper rental from where you are now.Real estate investing always has some kind of risk/reward factor no matter the type of asset.