Well the good news is you can refi when rates go down. 

The good news - there are plenty of family-friendly neighborhoods between St Paul and S Mpls which offer decent opportunities for a househacker - you just need to know where to look, what to avoid, and where the opportunities are (undervalued properties, under rented units, value-add opportunities).

Study other investors winning strategy the same you would study a sports teams winnings.

Like Tarik and Christine.. or than merril or any of the others. its a natural progression and the HUGE money is made selling the information. to be fair and balanced like Fox news.. there are always a % of folks that come through these trainings that do quite well and the money they spent forced them to take action.. its just the other 90% who spend the money and well never really do anything..

My four adult children are out of the house; so, below are goals for our 11 year old and me.Read 15 minutes per day and log it.Set limit on daily electronic use.Clean up after himself (toys, push chair in, dishes, clean bedroom, clean car).He plays sports and has a few tough baseball goals that he works with me on (inside/out swing, pitching mechanics, 3B fielding). 

And Joe, I post the news.

This is not really news or current events that would be of interest to most RE investors.  

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but I truly believe starting with a single as a rental is a major mistake.

Stop hanging out with your deadbeat buddies who spend all day drinking, talking sports, and otherwise wasting away.

Quote from @Stuart Udis: The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) recently acquired a 360 unit 12 story multi-family building for $24M and  a local news outlet  reported on the building.