If you spend time learning how to manage well, your income will increase, you'll save time, and you'll maintain your sanity with the courage to expand.

I’d dig into this a bit more.Another assumption that stood out to me as potentially problematic is the 6% income growth and only 3% expense growth.

Gifting equity in a house may be more trouble than it is worth if you are not near the life-time exclusion1) Potentially having to get the property appraised everytime an equity is gifted2) Having a title company update the title every time3) Exemption of the gift tax return is normally for cash gifts below the annual gift tax exclusion, you may still need to file if you gift non-cash4) If there is partial ownership over several years, having to properly pro-rate certain items such as real estate taxes, mortgage interest and rental income if the property is a rentalBest of luck 

@Joe Gellenbeck Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a Class A property in Class D area, what quality of tenant will you get?

My plan for this year is improve my credit, get my real estate license (to increase my income on top of my W-2), possibly career transition into the property management space (to learn more), and save as much as possible and learn as much as I can.I’d love to house hack close to home but my area is so expensive it seems like it’d be close to impossible. 

If they pay late now as is, let's say they lose a job or have a temporary loss of income, you're kind of SOL.I would look to build reserves between now and August.

You get a Capitalization Rate (CAP Rate), which equals your annualized return by dividing the Net Operating Income (you had gross in your narrative) by the purchase price.

On average, you will spend 10% of your income on maintenance per year.

My husband is a high income W2 earner, and meeting active criteria would put some of our tax dollars back in our pocket.

I also agree that there have been so many syndicators who's deals have dried up and they have resorted to teaching/mastermind as a source of income.