I am drawn to multi family homes and think I would like to start close to home here in the Twin Cities, but the more I listen and read, the less opposed I am to looking out of state. 

I think they need to eat this and also fix the ventilation system.

Does the tenant pay for the utilities as of now and you are simply upgrading the system? 

My clients and I are using DSCR loans on our multi family acquisitions.

The OP does not have a system or experience.

You don't need to set up any other communication system (like google voice or another email address) to avoid sharing your personal contact information, you can do all of that within the app.

Buying a condo seems like a huge waste, whereas multi-family gives some cash flow to neutralize my monthly payments.

Investors thought they could extend their debt, but that doesn't appear to be the case with what has happened to rates.This cycle would have been a disaster if our banking system was in the same situation as 08. 

when underwriting a property a good rule of thumb would be to set aside ~5% gross income for each Cap Ex, maintenance, and vacancy. (15% total)I dont know much of the market in TX but in central MA i work with a lot of investors that are interested in acquiring multi family properties so that's mostly what i deal in. 

My biggest advice is to start investing where you have a good network of people you know like and trust...this especially holds true if you will be investing out of state.While it's not impossible to go straight to the commerical I personally found it easier to start in the residential world and then make my way over to commerical multi-family.