if you're looking for appreciation, and are trying to spend that kind of money (independent of cash flow)....go where people wants to be....aka Federal hill, Canton, Locust point, Hamden, maybe Roland park (expensive), maybe Remington (careful where you are in Remington),...outside of the city, Towson (Towson u area), hunt valley, some others......with 2-300k x 2, many options are available to you.

Then you can be independent.  

A good retirement will have several independent sources of income.

I want to become financially independent and free my time from my income.

In essence, because of a beneficiary agreement that comes with but is independent of the trust itself, you can actually turn a real estate (realty) transaction into a personal property (personalty) transaction!

I have done all of my REI  thus far independent of my spouse, which I could do just fine up until now - because of our separate finances.  

There is a lot of statistics to parse through and a lot of information and opinions on the internet to read, but at the end of the day, you have to make your own decision about the quality of a neighborhood and why it might get better or worse.  

I've been dredging the forums for a bit now, learning what I could (location independent) through webinar, forum, and books - but now that I know I'm headed to HI I'm stoked to learn more about the area and am reaching out for others who are familiar!

Where I am, after 2 years and some more education you can become independent however. 

You're doing the right thing going through an independent agent and I would echo what @Luan Oliveira mentioned about comparing coverages if you're using the big carriers (Liberty, Geico, Progressive, Traveler's, MAPFRE etc...).