Here’s, the hard truth I’ve found in 45+ years in the industry; the vast majority of real estate investors, practitioners and business owners do not have a scalable activity.  

I.e. a security attorney drafting full set of Subscription docs will on average be $7500+.  

So I'd start where you could buy the average home in the metro area and then look at average rents and start looking at that.

The first time I was laid off it was traumatic because I my industry and the economy were in the toilet but more importantly, I didn't have enough cash flowing RE, second time.... not nearly as bad, and the third time it was my idea and I haven't lost a minute of sleep about my decision. 

@Seth Williams I work in the group home industry.

He has done a lot for the real estate industry.

I think you should be paying about 10.5%-12% on average right now, 1-2 points as well, and some lenders will not even need an appraisal.

I have only have girls and they are much more capable then your average boy so don't let that affect you.   

Examples:44109 (median home price went from roughly 50k to 125k in 8 years)https://www.zillow.com/home-values/77009/cleveland-oh-44109/ 44102 (median home price went from roughly 30k to 120k in 8 years)https://www.zillow.com/home-values/77002/cleveland-oh-44102/ 44106 (median home price went from roughly 100k to 200k in 8 years)https://www.zillow.com/home-values/77006/cleveland-oh-44106/ It has the highest rents on average in all of Ohio for major cities and the median income is not even in the top 3.

Real estate investing is forgiving; the average person can still make money even with some big mistakes.