Love hearing about your experience, especially with 21+ years in the game—definitely a wealth of knowledge there!

I'm not sure how to articulate it but, basically this bit of knowledge saves me a bunch of time and kind of surprised it hasn't come up in any of the books, articles, or videos I've been learning from.

I'm in disbelief about the lack of knowledge - I'm not an agent. 

As long as you put in the time to learn as much as you can up front and put that knowledge to work by taking action, you'll be just fine!

If anyone has any knowledge, would appreciate.

It is a personal choice. 

Check the in person events and meetups in your local area, our online community is full of knowledge and folks willing to share and still nothing replaces the opportunity to interact IRL, you never know who you will meet and where that can take you on your REI journey.

What do you guys see out there, and is MF a good choice in this market?

You could invest out of state, which would open up different risks and costs (trusting your PM, additional travel costs to see your property(s) periodically, likely less personal market knowledge).  

I have limited knowledge of Sub To deals, despite Pace Morby's excellent efforts to make Sub To well know (Sorry, Pace, it's me, not you!)