I was recently contacted by a leasing agent from Travelers Haven.  

re: gas to visit the property.you only get to deduct travel expenses when you REACH the property. ie, you go fromt the rental to home depot and back to get materials. you don't get to deduct the miles from colorado to michigan for your rental.

To say it another way, if I had the ability to take 14 months and travel the world, and still be on track for my retirement and long-term goals, I would ramp down the risk in my portfolio.  

I travel for work a lot sometimes.

When I was buying properties I was traveling with my job to a location that I couldn't even have a cell phone at, and minimal internet access, and I did fine.

I'll be traveling for work (wound care training for nursing).

Building a Real Estate portfolio is hard when traveling.

was travelling in Canada past few weeks.

., is that I'm competing with Craigslist Hacks that have no continuing education, that have no licenses, that have no insurance, that don't have a trailer full of tools, and are working for $15 per hour.

She is current on her payments so far, but really wants to get rid of it, doesn't want to be a landlord.The house is in a decent area, but backs to a trailer park.However, what she owes on the mortgage is just over by 5-10K what the house's market value is right now (didn't do an in-depth analysis, just from what I could find from comparable sales online), so I don't see any real investment opportunity here?