But if planned for over a long horizon, the money invested up front will pay off. 

So it all depends on your tolerance for dealing with tenants, on your time horizon and on the plan for the property.

We try to keep things close to FHA-loanable to hedge risk in the event of a market downturn so that we could trim margins and still unload inventory to the largest possible buyer pool.For our rentals I like to try to get at least 15% inclusive of principal pay-down, equity, and cash flow (ignoring tax shields) given a targeted long time horizon. 20% would be a better target for a 5-year hold that we were trying to reposition and exit more quickly.

I purchased a tenanted SFR in South Summerlin (near Desert Inn and Hualapai) for cash back in summer 2018 - mostly an appreciation play with a 5-7 year horizon. 

What is your investment horizon, effort expectations, level of risk, etc.Once yuo know who you are as an investor, the rest comes naturally.

Then look at your time horizon for wanting out of a 2-4 unit and multiply... i.e. it's $1000/month to rent a place, or it's $500/month after you rent out the other units and you really want to be out of the 2-4 unit neighborhood in 3 years... 3 years (your time horizon) * $500 (the difference in renting vs owning) * 12 (since it's monthly) = $18,000... that means it's $18k better to buy the place.The numbers are all fictional, but the process is not.

I recently started my account with first horizon.

With nicer weather on the horizon would anyone be interested in meeting up in Ottawa at a restaurant/coffee shop to talk shop?

A cash buyer also has to make an offer to this seller, if there are none on the horizon for you more it is leverage for you on getting lower price.

Given the economic horizon, I want to be sure all my debt is easily covered by rents.