Some of our deals produce out size returns, but most are in the mid teens.  

I get that.. but if your a top producer this is just cost of doing bizz to the title company orr closing attorney if your a one off agent you may have to pony up the money but to me it was necessary..

I am having trouble trying to figure out how I can jump into investing, keep up with my W2, be a good mom/wife, and everything in between.

You could get workers for USD $3 per day to cut brush.Local produce is relatively cheap. 

,We discovered over the course of this discussion that more smaller extra payments produces less benefit than fewer, larger "chunks". 

We have had no trouble getting our rents increased as long as we have three comps to support it and send in our request in a timely manner, 60 days out. 

It's not as simple as simple as buy now and hope that "time in the market" will produce a win for you.

Thinking about 1031 option and buying more income producing properties possibly in other parts of the country.   

As a professional property manager, I'm coming across an interesting trend related to institutions providing financial assistance for tenants who have trouble paying their security deposit and I would love to hear feedback from the BP community.Large PM companies have begun partnering with financial institutions, such as Rhino Insurance, to help tenants who struggle with paying their security deposit.

But from what I've observed (and I'm sure you've seen too), only a few new investors, who are more analytical in nature, do this.One of the issues that I've seen again and again is new investors putting together a "spreadsheet" based on their limited understanding, that produces inaccurate or misleading numbers.