Commercial scales a little better across cities b/c commercial buildings tend to cover a managerial staff, anyway.

Turn key companies have economies of scale that individuals don't.

Since 2009, when I first attended UB, the North Campus student housing has expended quite a bit and there are still plans on large scale multi-family developments underway. 

I am trying to figure out what is the next best step to scale my real estate profolio. 

If you want to scale up and have a larger portfolio, you will probably want to focus on saving money for future down payments. 

The prices are much more affordable and I could scale a rental portfolio much quicker than in the city/suburbs, just wondering if they are too risky with the lack of employment opportunities in the immediate area.

My first several properties were vacation rentals, and I used the cash flow from those to scale into 22 LTRs and counting.

After that, I am going to divert my attention to seeking private capital or partnerships in order to scale up in MF.  

Cash flow can handle the mortgages.I have no problem paying down the HELOC as I go, but based on suspected rising rates I don't know if it would be worth to fix it to a higher rate mortgage now and free up cash to buy more properties (My plan is to just keep growing and scaling).

I stick with the basics and get a level of understanding and then scale up going forward.