The greatest generation thought the same way about baby boomers though so I guess it's warranted...I agree its not been easy the last few years and the debt levels are just crazy.

@Immanuel Sibero wouldn't cap rate be an indicator as to which you should choose for a particular property either to sell or to refinance, in that way it is a level playing field that does not depend on how much equity there is in the property.

Being an agent may be the obvious answer, but what are some other jobs that could be tackled that are entry-level, but could be filled by someone getting into the investor world?

I am familiar with the area but not on a real estate level.

But five years of living and breathing design has taught me so much- including many things I use all the time as a designer and project manager.That's the bulk of my experience outlined; I have for a long time known that property management and investing is the direction I wanted to take my career, and all these years I keep swinging back to residential management and wealth building, reminding myself again and again that it is right up my alley to pursue (and I'm not getting any younger).Now, having been laid off on NYE, it seemed appropriate to take this time to build my business.I don't have any savings to bring to the table (one of the problems with the last job was low pay for the level of work I was completing). 

Just to level set, @Daniel Haggar, there are 3 separate gas-fired, tank-style water heaters.

As we look forward to this year, the market is not showing signs of slowing down anytime soon.”Mark Sprague state director of information capital at Independence Title said that Austin is one of only eight U.S. metros with home prices that have fully recovered from their pre-recession levels.

There's huge job and population growth propping that up and the jobs that are being created are not low paying entry level gigs.

I'm looking forward in meeting people and getting to understand specific markets on a deeper level.

@Kalen JordanThe American Community Survey provides vacancy data every year at granularities ranging from the state level all the way down to block groups, which are much smaller than neighborhoods.