That's what the OP here has been up against.You can find decent cashflow on paper in Syracuse right now, but not in areas expected to benefit from Micron's growth.

It will familiarize you with the basic terminology and benefits.

The benefit here is coming out of a recession will allow you the pick of the litter for staffing since most companies would have laid off some pretty good employees during a recession.

I'll probably end up doing the MBA some point down the line to benefit my business desire, if the opportunity is right. 

I make a little over 50k per year, with a credit score of over 700 and I have a VA disability benefit.

This will give you several benefits.

The inefficiency is a benefit, not a problem.I've seen numerous stock investors set out to try to make real estate more stock-like. 

Investors who are very busy benefit from a transaction coordinator in the creative real estate space as there is a ton of communication that needs to take place.

On top of that, you are getting experience, you get some of the tax benefits of being an investor AND you get to enjoy appreciation, both forced and passive. 

Alternatively recognize the challenges of being cash neutral at high LTV, the benefits of no longer paying a LL rent, that rates may lower such that you can refi, that over long term there will be appreciation and rent growth so it will at some point have positive cash flow, etc and lower your initial goal of cash neutral.