Focus on a 5+ year plan.   

pays your mortgage while you make Cash-Flow on those properties that you have under your name that pays you a higher ROI every Year.

One of them has a clear path to return a profit and is executing that plan well. 

Second pro is that you get to lower your living expenses or live "rent free" by having your tenants pay for your mortgage payment.

Our portfolio currently cash flows, but cash flow isn’t our top priority right now since we plan to use this portfolio to supplement our retirement in 12 years when I leave the Army.My biggest challenge is committing to an out-of-state market.

Expanding your portfolio, streamlining tenant management, diversifying income streams, building a network, and planning for growth are also recommended.

I was thinking this might work on my property in Redding and can be adapted to a shared housing project for seniors (though I'd want rooms large enough for bed, bath and seating area)  It's my understanding that it is considered a SFR with seperated bedrooms as far as planning.

Most bookkeepers won’t work in it if you plan to outsource it in the future.

So this involves hiring an architect draw up plans ($1,000 - 3,000 if I had to guess).  

Credit, jobs, income, age, married, plans for future all this matters.