Based on your advice, I think the most practical move is to cut my losses and shift into CDs instead.

The most common practice among landlords is to do a fully furnished summer rental Memorial day to Labor day and Winter rentals to local college kids.

Appreciate the practical knowledge. 

I'm not too worried about overpaying, just about getting bad value, or worse yet, bad practices.

Your insight about how my leasing/marketing background can transfer into flips was really encouraging, and the practical steps you shared — especially partnering with a local flipper and paying attention to buyer questions at open houses — are exactly the kind of direction I needed.Really appreciate you taking the time to answer.Antonio

Great advice on practical tips to get others hours.

The best thing you can do right now is keep practicing the basics!

I got so excited when I heard about cost segregation analysis as a way to get the maximum depreciation paper loss during the first 5 years in conjunction with having a spouse who is a "real estate professional" status for tax purposes.The way I found out about cost segregation analysis is listening to podcasts (as my usual practice during my marathon 2 hour commutes).  

What really stood out to me in this book is how honest, practical, and entertaining it is.

-- AND the practical thing: Clean up my credit rating by (a) increasing available credit (without any hard pulls), and (b) clearing as much open debt as possible to reduce credit utilization (and then keeping it clear!).