Watch videos on YouTube and maybe try to refrain from "should I?"

The other good news is you ca use the rents of the other units as income to qualify so you can essentially qualify for a higher home price.That sets up your next investment property as you move out its now a 2-4 unit with multiple doors bringing in more income. 

A cap rate is essentially a measure of desirability for the market or neighborhood the property is in. 

I know it could rent and essentially pay for itself.

They have a lot of good videos on Youtube. 

Understanding the nuances involved in each investment decision deeply and weighing these factors according to your investment goals and risk tolerance is essential.

Find Brandon's videos on YouTube for the "four square" method of analyzing homes and practice.

Essentially the developer / property manager didn’t pay our contractual rental income for years (a sum of nearly $30k) and I didn’t have much recourse.

I agree that it is essential to understand the differences in every sub-market. 

If you need help there I can shoot you a quick video on how to do so, our original CRM InvestorFuse was on top of Podio.REsimpli I imagine would have a certain format that they can import your data with.