I work full time at a non-profit for at-risk inner city teens.

That's a play there, but land is so expensive now that unless you buy it years in advance, your upside potential is going to be limited.You might have some luck with manufactured park development as there's a growing need for that product, yet it's not sexy and so no one focuses on it.

Now that we are in our 40s and have teens we want to find an area that isn't literally freezing for 3 months out of the year and a place with a population bigger than 300. 

That continued through my teens and young twenties and I’d always say how I wanted to marry a man who wants to do the same so we can have a family business and not work for “the man.”

Flipping is one of the riskiest paths in real estate but the most popular because it's sexy and gets the spotlight.

The "carry trade" is sexy until it destroys your balance sheet.Short term, high value add deals that you can refi would be my strategy although in most cases  I wouldn't risk my home to do it.If you can live with a permanently higher payment then do a cash out refi and keep your powder dry for the opportunity with solid yield.If I sound like I'm speaking martian right now then don't move forward!

. $80k is a super sexy pricepoint, but coming up with the money on this deal is the only really "easy" part that I can see.  

The day-to-day grind is never as sexy as the videos, books, and successful people tell you it is.

"Subject To" is an extremely sexy topic - but it's also an incredibly difficult deal to pull off.

(i.e. 70/30, 50,50, etc.)As for returns, investors usually like deals where the IRR is in the teens (i.e. 15%).