Doctor's, gyms, hair cuts, restaurants, dry cleaners, karate schools etc.

However, my business, web designer and online "D list" personality, dried up with the crash of '08.

The traditional lender pool is currently dried up on older manufactured homes, including ones that qualify and that is why sellers have to often sell them so cheap.If you want appreciation in a manufactured home on it's own land, I think you have to consider only getting that on the land itself.  

. $120K in dry powder -  and maybe revisit the plan in 2018 once you have $1MM of purchasing power.

I identified that I definitely have a drive and a purpose for wanting to go into RE, but I'm looking for various ways to supplement my learning so that I don't run dry on the theory.

I've got a few dozen of units in a couple of states, but am seeing multi-family inventory drying up in those states as cap rates decline and more investors are bidding up each deal.  

there is a difference in negativity and reality.. that's all I am pointing out.. full blown rehab construction is fraught with Risk.. we deal with it every day.. even new builds guys make boo boo's  I walked in one of our new builds same floor plan we had built numerous times and the window is too low won't pass inspection.. cut it out.. cut out siding replace replace siding patch the dry wall re paint.. etc etc.The other major thing is that rehab contractors are not new build subs.. your subbing each trade out .. your rehab contractor is usually a different breed and one that can actually run a whole job for you is usually doing work for owner occs and  charging for it.. what YOU need to pay to make a profit brings you down to the guys and gals that need utmost supervision..  

Now that market is drying up we ares starting to evaluate other markets.

Once I fixed that, the basement dried up on its own.

and they are as you state complex.. and no way as cut and dry as people think.. one big fallacy is a property cannot be land locked that simply is not true in CA.this will be interesting..