@John Underwood got one a while back and it’s not even his flavor 

As others have mentioned, there are many different flavors of real estate investments. 

The post-rehab cash flow, however, is worth it.Consider short-term rentals in hotspots like College Station, Austin, or New Braunfels for a different flavor.

But appreciation rate can vary widely from market to market depending on what state is this years flavor and what billionaire is moving some factory to where.  

:)If I was young and really wanted to get something going I’d go for the multi-family flavor as suggestedOR- I’d start myself in one of Toledo’s 3 bedroom 1 bathroom houses in as sketchy an area as I was comfortable in. 43608 has $15k houses all day long that rent for $700/mo.

Totally agree with you about your things like the symphony, though that’s not my personal flavor.

Its got so many different flavors of stuff going on. 

I would also recommend coming to the city for a few days and tour around with someone to get a good flavor before spending any money. 

@Joe Splitrock I never thought of FIRE that way, but it does have that flavor when you look at it that way.

Again, these questions have a bit of turnkey flavor to them, but they work very well when interviewing management companies.