If, however, we take care to do our homework while taking a lot of deep, calming breathes and make rational decisions, the income will take care of itself and that will lead to realizing our vision.This a really long reply.

@Brieer Doggett,I would suggest looking at it rationally...1)  pay down debt--  pay less on on interest, decrease  overall debt2) Buy multi-family, and gain $2K/mo(what you said you pay in rent), or $24,000 year in income, gain experience, build equity .Which logically, do you think is better?

Keeping houses not bought as renters then using them to rent is a very common mistake, it almost never works out, yet people get emotionally attached to these houses and will go through mental convolutions to rationalize holding them unprofitably.

Your options may be limited- but you may have options.Also, please realize that there are people who are so imbued with partisan thinking they are incapable of rational discussions.I would also suggest staying away from the cable news, I hope you would have listened to that "marketplace" I recommended. 

Real estate  is definitely an investment strategy where emotions can take over rational thought very quickly.  

I had a light bulb moment a few months ago while I was listening to a podcast show talking about when in a crazy real estate market ( the reference here is Boston, MA), what you should do to stay rational and to take advantage of the situation.

- To be clear, i don't have the cash to buy a property outright, obviously i have enough to acquire....down payment, closing etc etc.I guess it really makes sense that they should be taking into consideration the income potential for the property thus, increasing my debt/income ration....Makes sense. 

Or rural area that will never appreciate and expenses over time will make your investment tough to rationalize.

Give me feedback on my rational.

We simply cannot rationalize paying for childcare when it is so expensive.I have looked into lubbockreia and have signed up.