They are not my friends or family and therefore it should not be my responsibility to support them.  

I see this with the crowd funders that grew too quick ( realty shares comes to mind)  and did not have enough support staff to communicate with their investors and that leads to internet chatter most of it not good and it can spiral out of control..

This is somewhat a loose metric for our current business model. 25% is just a arbitrary number with no science or data to support it.

If it can support itself as a rental you should be in good shape. 

On the other hand, leverage could allow me to acquire multiple properties faster.Considering my circumstances (unknown target market, family support in Fort Wayne, long-term goals), what approach would you recommend?

If your market can support it, do a Phase 2. 

Aram Hi Aram,Partnering with a consulting company that offers comprehensive support can be a great way to streamline your investing process, especially as a newbie.

I ran across some mentions of upcoming local investor meetups which got me thinking about building a feature in the forums to support this.

The reason for occupancy limits is because cities were developed to support a certain amount of traffic, parking and road wear.

Want checkbook control, debit card and the support.