tim,
as a beginner in rei, i can only give you beginner advice. the way i see the answer to your question is this:
landlording responsibilities:
repair a bunch of things at day, night, afternoon, whenever, since you’re on call (and you’re responsible for the building!). deal with finding tenants, destructful tenants, late paying tenants, messy tenants, ect. property problems, property taxes, etc…
can you deal with all that?
now lets look at note investing:
find a note, refer it, make $2000-5000 easy.
buy a note, secured by real estate, collect payments, without the mess and hassle of being a landlord.
now i am not degrading landlording at all, i’m just saying that for me, note investing is the path i’d rather take. but no matter what type of rei you do…knowledge about notes and their mechanics is a must!