Financially my full-time job is our main income as a family.Job is demanding.

Better job hiring contractor.

My wife and I both have full time jobs, take care of our 2 boys and I have spent almost every day off for the last 8 mo working on this house.

Nice job acquiring the first deal.

You will require many properties to completely replace your income, which could become a new full-time job to manage.

Look into factors like vacancy rates, local job growth, and tenant demand to pinpoint promising markets.Once you find a property, work on running the numbers carefully—factor in purchase price, rehab costs (if applicable), property management fees, and reserves.

That is why most of them just let us do our jobs. 

Considering some SFR properties in Cahokia / Cahokia Heights, Illinois and looking for some recommendations on inpsectors in this area that do a good job looking at multiple properties

If your student loans are only 3-5% interest, that's pretty good so I think it's okay to pay those off over time.It sounds like you're making good income with your current employer and there is room to grow, so I'd plan to stay with that job until you can pay your high interest loans off and save enough for a down payment for your first property.

Also, focus on 2 years of job/income stability.Class D Properties:Cashflow vs Appreciation: Typically, all cashflow with little, maybe even negative, relative rent & value appreciationVacancy Est: 20%+ should be used to cover nonpayment, evictions & damages.Tenant Pool: majority will have FICO scores under 560 (almost 30% probability of default), little to no good tradelines, lots of collections & chargeoffs, recent evictions.