Actually it will slow you down as you will get trapped by the salary.1.  

The vast majority of sub-$100k properties are traps.

Your checklist is gold for any new OOS investor: find the right market, build a team, focus on deals with strong price-to-rent ratios, and avoid turnkey traps.

Good start, but tax-sale houses hide traps.

Hi @Rob WhiteThat’s a good dilemma, and you laid out the tradeoffs better than most people do.Here’s how I’d frame it back to you so you can see the levers more clearly:You don’t have an “asset problem,” you have a “trapped equity / low-yield” problem.A $1.25M asset throwing off $1,250/mo after holding it since 2014 is telling you the equity has outgrown the cashflow.

Pest control service Seal up the house Poison bait/traps in the attic Tell the tenants to stop leaving their nasty food and trash out and attracting rodents.

As a seller, there are a few very specific traps that many are still caught in because they don't understand the trap.LO's, as a seller or buyer, can be very lucrative, if you understand them and follow specific rules. 

You simply don't know what traps you're walking into in these out of state markets.

if you shell out a huge down payment with no way to get it back, it doesn't really matter whether your rate is 6.5 or 2.5 - that capital is trapped equity at least for a while.and it sounds like you might be saying principal paydown isn't powerful... but it is, over the long term, which is why i am in this.but maybe i'm not understanding your post.happy to dialogue further 

I'd advise potentially tapping into your retirement for the down payment on these as they will quickly pay it back based on these cap rates and you can pay off the loan you took against your retirment in minimal time.It if is trapped in a property, do a cash out/HELOC on the property to get money to purchase.