However, as @Chad Hale mentioned, only if you can afford it - meaning both financially and mentally (e.g. how stable are both of your jobs, how long will it take you or your husband to find a replacement job, how much you have in reserves, and whether you guys are in a position to withstand that mental stress, etc.)When you mention 8k monthly, I am assuming that's net profit?

I would say generally, buying already built is cheaper on the mind, stress and time.

I'm stressing because I wasn't anticipating this and am not excited about the prospect of paying 2k more than I was expecting when my mortgage payments kick in next month.I'll be searching the forum for answers as well, but since I am kinda desperate at the moment, I thought I would go straight to the source for advice.

So you may not NEED a lease signed for your primary residence already, especially since that's a lot of stress to find a new tenant and have a lease in place while you're under contract on another home.

We fee like a conservative approach will let us go through the growing pains of better understanding real estate investing without the worry of being over leveraged to add to the stress while we are both still employed full time in our careers and do not plan on quitting our jobs to go fully into real estate. 

Incredible book that has probably changed my life more than any other book I have read (though admittedly I do not read much) As I poured over the 700+ pages I fell in love with the spirit that was protagonist Howard Roark, who defied convention to make more beautiful architecture and was loathed by society, especially the ruling class.

It is a mindset cancer in our society that's not only ignored but all but penalized for even mentioning. 

Although I've stressed the importance of reserves, he is comfortable with his system.

The main reason is people get massively stressed and fear a multi-million dollar settlement and so agree to settle for a few hundred Thousand dollars. 

See the stress test above.