My immediate goal is to acquire our first property and spend the next two years mastering the basics of real estate investment. ( Refining the Go and No property search criteria/ Learning the value of taxes and avoiding them as much as possible/ 1031 exchanges) Depending on my wife’s career orders, we may remain in Baltimore for 1-2 years, but I’m also exploring opportunities in West Texas, Sierra Vista, AZ, and Houston, TX.

I don't know about doing a refi, I think it depends on your situation and rates.

It is a little slower to find a tenant, in our case maybe 3-4 weeks instead of 1-2 to get our average 10 applicants for 1 signed lease. 

A basement conversion could make sense (either STR or LTR depending on how much work/headaches you are willing to take on).

I have never done an application for a rental because they are so happy to find someone who is going to help them with their good location, but needs just a little work, property.

Josh Duncan Josh it depends on your comfortability level but I have been taking out 401K loans to fund my real estate and personally I love it. 

I am also in Cincinnati and I did speak with True Home Ohio (https://truehomeohio.com) and they seemed to be somewhat reasonable except I believe they take a flat fee of $105 per door so depending on how much rent is for that door it could be cheaper or more expensive but their other fees I thought were very reasonable.

Market might be competitive but there is angles to stand out depending on what you are comfortable and able to handle, such as waiving an appraisal contingency, limitng inspection rights and time frames, closing time frames, allowing seller to stay-post closing, taking on difficult tenants, buying properties that might need repairs, etc.

Buy 1 or 2  house close to your home or at least someone what close depending on numbers. 

Depending on the project, you could have many different sub-sections.