--after all desperate times call for desperate measures).This is all until I find one of the thousands of employers in the Washington DC region who are looking for a Program Management certified electrical engineer with a systems engineering masters degree and 13 years experience in high profile DOD acquisition programs. 

What me and my buyers are doing in that area is pretty simple and has some degree of success to it.

Animals for the most part are not controllable at some degree, a great dog/cat can bite playing around so how do you protect yourself from lawsuits?. 

One advantage of CPVC is that can take hotter water than PEX but above 140 degrees where PEX fails you are likely to have scalding anyway. 

It will get you acclimated to home ownership to a degree…and if you’re in the right area you’ll be able to get a nice return on the rental on the backend.  

I have graphic design/marketing skills (current job) and interior design skills (Interior Architecture degree and former stager).

I’m not sure what you and your partner’s financial situation and credit history look like, but you can use private credit and hard money loans, borrow from family if that is an option, leverage from your own financial resources, bring in other equity partners and JV to some degree on each project, etc.  

Find a PM that will increase your tenant quality, manage to the lease to the 'nth' degree, and minimize disruptions/interruptions to your cash flow.  

In terms of land mass Jacksonville is the largest city in the entire US, so since the market area is quite large, most agents specialize to some degree.

I get it a lot of people want to learn from other's mistakes, you can to some degree. but the one that pushs you close to the edge, you can only learn it from yourself.