Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books on this topic, or you can learn about it by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum.

You may want to look at small independent stores.

However I like to run my numbers conservatively and account for cap ex, vacancy, maintenance reserves 10/5-7/5-7% respectively.

Overall i am pretty sure that you and I are in agreement - people usually underestimate the expenses, so it is always good to err on the side of having more reserve.

Mostly due to the fact my spouse and I agreed on her to have zero involvment in any sort of RE investing (and its our home) I think once you have a good 6-12 months of reserve cash (operating expenses for your own life saved as a back up incase things go bad) save enough liquidity to get the ball rolling on your first invesment.

I also have some cash reserves that I plan to dump into a contingency fund for each unit. 

I would consider selling one of the properties, paying off the debt, creating a reserve for your remaining investment, and ensuring you are 100% financially stable before you invest again.

Multiple vehicles of storing money; fixed income, equities, crypto, alt investments, real estate, etc.What avenue makes the most sense for you to get into real estate?

The City has done a lot of work to clean itself up in recent years so you will find not only a lot of rehabbed houses, but businesses and store front rehabs, too.

My recommendation is to save money through your W2 until you not only have enough for a down payment but a reserve for repairs as well.