Ready to Invest, but overwhelmed and stuck!

[Ashley Campbell]

Background:  Late 30s, married with two young kids (4 and 2).  My husband and I both have solid W2 incomes (both remote).  We live in small town Arkansas with a very low cost of living.  No plans to move as this is where we want to raise our girls.  We have been your average corp job employees for the past 15+ years (maxing out 401K, emergency fund savings, etc.).  About 5 years ago we hopped in a RE syndication and pulled out of it recently to take a more active role in our investing (returns where meh), along with trying to supercharge our financial goals in retiring early.  Theoretically, we are on track to retire in our mid 50s.  But why not try earlier and start gaining some income outside of our W2!  And the grind is getting a bit monotonous...Plus, I've always had a keen interest in RE and ready to dive in.  I'm a specialty insurance underwriter by trade; therefore analyzing deals and numbers is my jam.  

Our market doesn't make sense from a longer term rental standpoint, so we've been researching different areas to focus on and get started.  Man, it's sooo overwhelming!  We've pretty much honed in on North Texas area.  We've been exploring the OmniKey Group/Slaughter Investing, which we came across through the RealWeath (Kathy Fettke) channel.  Does anyone have any experience with these folks?  Any feedback would be appreciated.  

We have approximately $150k liquid cash ready to go and can likely gain more capital in a fairly quick manner.  I keep getting hung up if we should focus on diversifying with two different houses in two different areas in North Texas or go for it on a more expensive type Duplex.  On paper the duplex projects higher returns, but of course, that's just a projection.  Interested in some thoughts here! PS...anything outside of our market, we do plan to hire a PM.  

Now, we do live in a small town, touristy area that does lack in nicer/unique short-term rentals. Could be an opportunity here. In my head I ask myself if we should go for one less capital intensive LTR and give a local STR a try (for the tax advantages) as well. We really need to sit down with an experienced RE CPA. We've visited with 3 that just don't get it. Personally, I need to do more homework myself on the local STR part to see if numbers make sense.

Appreciate anyone's feedback!