It's a more expensive market than the Midwest and the short term cash flow is lower and that is the trade off for being a few hours away in a landlord friendly state.

Personally, I maintain both an emergency fund reserve and capital improvement/major repairs reserves. 

I then traded up into some small multifamily.

If you are, together with the fact that you execute trades and maintain accounts for your customers you're a broker.You market to the least sophisticated, smallest investors out there.

And sometimes dangerous, as I landed in the emergency room twice from rehabs, once from drilling straight through my finger. 

How much capital is good to keep handy for repairs/emergencies?

My goal is to start learning and hope to buy my second (we own our current home) property within the year to start my real estate investment journeyI got interested in Real Estate investing because I want to be able to have a large family and give them everything they need (college tuition, family trips, emergency fund) and want to grow a portfolio with constant cash flow to allow for these things. 

A plumber was scheduled for a service call on May 31, but the call was rescheduled to June 1 due to an emergency call.

With comparable trading north of 150k there was plenty of spread for him to make a nice return.

Jack of all trades, master on none.