Best of luck, and if I lived nearby I think I’d be bullish on, and potentially investing in the area as well! 

Here are a few suggestions on how you can maximize the wealth of information available: Check out the blogs and podcasts, or take advantage of the search feature (magnifying glass).

Real estate is not the end all be all panacea for building wealth, there are a lot of other options many of which will give you way fewer headaches than real estate will!

Unless you bought in D class, very low appreciation area, you should be sitting pretty. 

@Kasey Hardt very interesting,  didn't realize this was a pattern but even I've got friends that are getting recruited to the area for medical device startups etc, so could be a very interesting trend to watch.

There are a lot of websites that offer the course online, or if you have a college near you, they also typically offer a class that satisfies the pre-licensing requirement.

I think investing out of state in a D area is a bad idea.

Murray Hill is a great area that will fit your budget and allow you to maintain occupancy. 

There are a lot of options out there.Some of the most useful items BiggerPockets members have identified are features that save time so they can spend time working on their next property.

Louis County area.