We decided to narrow our focus as follows:• Single family• 3 bedrooms• 2 car garage• 1,200 to 1,500 SqFtWe also restricted the geographical area to the region marked in green below. 

 Look at the bottom of Question Q That narrows it down - they're all Question "Q". :)A: Baltimore County law prohibits more than two unrelated adults from living together unless the unit is authorized by the county as a rooming or boarding house.The process for registering a property as a boarding house is outlined here:Boarding or Rooming houses in Baltimore County

I've been looking at 6+, but am trying to narrow down a location.

The key is to expose yourself to as many different possible profitable avenues in real estate investing & then continue to narrow them down to a select few which would be a good match for your strengths & personality. 

I've narrowed down the areas I'm searching in to 1 county and a few different cities within that county.

I’d recommend read that book, narrow down your markets and then choose a market and go visit

Lately, the gap between commercial and conventional rates is narrowing with commercial rates in the 6-9% range. 

Because I didn't anticipate that I'd need money, and considering I'm in the middle of renovating and want to finish fast and put it on rent, I'm pursuing both a HELOC on my current home and narrowing down a lender for the refinance.

Once you have narrowed down what and where you want to invest keep track of every property you analyze and its "cap rate".

Needless to say it is a pretty narrow niche of the marketplace and difficult for people to understand the nuances sometimes.