I would also recommend concentrating on newer homes for your first rental. 

It is driving me nuts because real estate is what I am thinking about and should be concentrating on finishing school, about 18 months more.

The concentration of sold SFR tend to by on the fringe of the metro where cheaper new housing is constructed where as the rental SFR tend to be nearer the urban core where prices are much higher.

I would find out if any of the low income areas are being revitalized and concentrate there.Frequent inspections are necessary.  

At first which is better  concentrating on building a buyers list or go straight for sellers?

I would say try to pay a fair amount on all, but concentrate on the smallest and get it paid off as soon as possible, then double up on the next lowest one. 

Once I get 10 properties, I will start concentrating more on cash flow, and will probably only take out 50% when I refinance.

We ended up in researching this deal finding another auction deal up the road that we are going to concentrate on right now.  

It would seem rather fishy if an borrower already owned multiple units in a concentrated area and then wanted to buy another as owner occupied.

It seems that Andy should concentrate on properties that are not already managed by Property Management companies.