During these exciting times, I'm trying my best to remain patient and do this the smart way.

I was hoping to get advice on which type of property and borough is a smart financial move.  

You will definitely want to get smart before diving in.

One helpful site I've come across is called Smart Asset and they have a property tax calculator that will help estimate property taxes. 

Using maximum leverage is not smart just because it’s possible.

. :) You can do it at the individual device level, and track connected devices and all that.

Then when you scale up to 100 units, the work is actually LESS because a 100-unit apartment complex can afford a full time property manager and a semi-full time maintenance manager. 90% of the drama is gone and all you do is manage the property manager and ensure you increase its value through smart capex.

@Gerich FellermannIt's hard to do tax planning without looking at your return but I'll throw this out there:Income taxes are lower than they have been in decades.We're likely to be in a higher tax situation sometime in the futureYour income is lower than usual since you're starting a new businessMaybe paying the tax now at a relatively low marginal rate is actually the smart tax plan?

The VA loan option mentioned here may be a smart bet.

Kind of nice to punt those major cap ex down the road, but it is a rental and I don't want to over improve the units if that's not smart either.