Bought my house, now buy a townhome?

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Hey guys!

I've been living in the east St. Paul MN suburbs since Aug in my first house and love the area. We got a great deal on it, and I'm really excited with how everything turned out. Now I'm starting to see what equity is, tax benefits, and I started thinking...

I work at the corporate campus at 3M here in Maplewood and have made friends with a lot of out-of-town young professionals (23-28 y/o) and see a huge gap in available, nice, rentable housing options. I have looked with my REA at properties surrounding the corp campus that go for <$150k and most that come up are townhomes and condos (this area is pretty expensive, and rent doesn't increase as you increase the cost of a house, aka a $120k house can rent for the same $1300/month as a $200k SFR, so why pay $200k??). But being as I just bought my home and an engagement ring for my fiance, I would only have around $1500 to invest and am pretty cash poor. Plus, most of my savings is going toward a honeymoon and wedding expenses for next year.

Question is, is there a way for me to get started? Or should I wait until my "financial storm" blows over and start investing in a few years? I know the power of leverage RE brings and love the idea of starting with a partnership. I feel as though I have a great market to start in with an awesome target audience (I even know some HR people and could have an in finding great tenants). In my initial searches I have already found four potential townhomes that would be a great fit for my criteria and have run some initial numbers on them with a spreadsheet I created.

I am looking forward to any suggestions, comments, or ideas you guys may have. There is a ton of experience on this site and I would love to hear how to avoid mistakes or prevent something I can't handle right now. Or maybe there is a way to start using the power of this site. I personally feel as though I could bring a lot to the table, even if it isn't money (find properties, rent them with great tenants, manage them, etc).

Thanks!

Matt