I have studied both and Section 8 is a lot easier.Yes, Section 8 is intended to help with the issue of available housing for low income people so absolutely its not designed to compete with your Class A rentals.

Im new to the investing world and am still in the early stages, I've been studying and researching for the past five years.

We have been studying Buffalo's market and it looks really promising. 

My suggestion is to study first the numbers / cities / markets and once you know your zones / cities of interest, look for people who can help you locally.

As a result I must Study the market and know what i’m worth. 

To clarify, I have been studying real estate for several years, but have been otherwise engaged in operating  other businesses that my wife and I both own, both as CFO and CEO roles.

What I share comes from my experiences in court room and mind numbing hours of study and research in a law library on contract law and interstate compact. 

Now I'm not gonna be Mr Tour-guide for any/all who want to stop out and just look around but if you go through the steps and are serious, we have built out acquisition strategy HECK-YEAH I'm gonna say come-on-out and we'd carve out some time to do market tours together AND I'd equip you to do some self study/exploration. 

When you have a duplex and tenants on both sides stay for ten years, it almost guarantees that something isn't right.I would study your market and determine the value of your rental, because I bet you are losing money every month.

But, I don’t think that should be a very high bar for you especially if you are already studying and researching this at 18 years old and you don’t plan to buy anything until 2-3 years from now at the earliest.